Stopwork to disrupt kindergartens

Parents of children at kindergarten face disruption next week as unions hold a series of stopwork meetings.

It comes after talks on a new collective agreement collapsed and, unless a deal is brokered, is the final step before kindergarten teachers strike for the first time in a decade.

Colin Tarr, national president of the NZEI, which represents 1630 kindergarten teachers nationwide, said union members had suffered an attack on working conditions that would "erode their ability to maintain the quality of education they provide for 45,000 children".

Negotiations between the union and the Ministry of Education, New Zealand Kindergartens Incorporated and the Federation of Free Kindergartens began in August.

But talks broke down over three key points:

* Funding changes could mean kindergartens choose to stay open all year round, but the union wants term breaks to stay.

* Employers want 30-35 hours of contact time a week, but unions say it should be 26-30 hours (depending on sessional or all-day care).

* Unions want more pay for extra responsibilities shouldered by senior teachers - an agreement they say was made as part of the pay parity deal with primary teachers.

In Auckland, stopwork meetings will take place daily next week, affecting about 340 teachers at 130 kindergartens.

At the meetings teachers will vote on strike action to press their claims. The last national industrial action by kindergarten teachers was in 1996, when they went on strike for better pay and conditions.

The ministry has suggested the parties enter mediation.