Secondary teachers reach settlement

Education Minister Anne Tolley. Photo / Rotorua Daily Post

Secondary school teachers have today reached a realistic settlement in an "earthquake-stricken economy", their union says.

The Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA) and the Ministry of Education had been negotiating since last year in an acrimonious dispute over pay and conditions that led to several days of strike action in the last school year.

PPTA members voted for the agreement with 86 per cent in support.

The new Secondary Teachers' Collective Agreement expires in January 2013 and provides all trained secondary teachers an average pay increase of 1.6 per cent a year until then.

Trained teachers also get a one-off payment of $300. Untrained teachers get a one-off payment of $800, but no increase to their pay scale.

Trained teachers had a degree in a specialised subject as well as one year's industry training and it was important to keep as many trained teachers in the industry as possible, PPTA president Robin Duff told NZPA.

He said members were pleased the ministry's claw-backs on class size and workload had been driven off the table.

"The settlement has been challenging in an earthquake-stricken economy but we've achieved significant gains for our members.

"We're sympathetic to the plight of our colleagues in Canterbury. These teachers need stability and certainty and our members have been realistic about the financial climate post earthquake."

The agreement would apply to all secondary teachers, not just union members.

It also adds nearly 3000 middle management allowances by 2013 and establishes a secondary school staffing group to explore the issues related to class size and teacher numbers. The group will report to the ministry's secretary for education Karen Sewell by the end of September.

It was a very good settlement which gave certainty for secondary teachers, students and schools, Ms Sewell said.

Education Minister Anne Tolley praised the teachers for voting to accept a new pay agreement.

"It removes the threat of further industrial action, and we can now concentrate on raising achievement levels and giving every student the chance to reach their potential," Ms Tolley said.

A formal offer would be made to primary school teachers in the next month in keeping with the unified pay scale in their collective agreement.

- NZPA