Strike planned with pay rise to meet cost of living not offered to high school teachers

Teacher strike for better pay and conditions in Auckland CBD on March 16. Photo / Michael Craig

The Ministry of Education’s latest offer still refuses to include a pay increase to meet the cost of living crisis as secondary school teachers continue strike action.

Chris Abercrombie, president of the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) said they have said from the beginning of negotiations that secondary teachers need a pay increase that matches the cost of living.

“Unfortunately, this offer is below that, and over the term of the agreement represents a reduction in real terms,” Abercrombie said.

Chris Abercrombie, president of the Post Primary Teachers' Association.

When the national executive meets later this week, the new offer will be considered, but given it leaves out this important term, it’s highly likely the strike action will continue.

When the new term began at the end of last month, so did further industrial action by both secondary and primary school teachers as they continue to fight for better pay and working conditions.

Negotiations for the new offers began in the middle of last year, and in February the principals of the area and primary schools rejected the Government’s second offer.

On March 16, tens of thousands of primary, area, and secondary school teachers participated in a historic one-day walkout, but unions say it wasn’t enough to get the Government to listen to their pleas.

“It’s clear more must be done to keep secondary teachers in classrooms in Aotearoa,” Abercrombie said.

“The PPTA Te Wehengarua staffing survey released last week showed that on average, one in every four schools that responded to the survey cancelled classes and one in every two schools had to transfer courses or classes. This is the highest proportion on record since the surveys began in 1996.”

They said key areas including both improvements in pay and conditions were not addressed in this most recent offer.

“There isn’t enough to recognise the contribution that relievers make to keep the school system going and no recognition of the need to provide equity in paid planning and marking time for part-time teachers,” Abercrombie said.

“The facilitated bargaining has been suspended to enable us to consider the offer. Unfortunately, we cannot see that this offer provides us with a clear pathway towards settlement. The action that members have voted on, which includes rolling strikes beginning tomorrow, will still continue.”

The strike action set to continue includes PPTA Te Wehengarua refusing to give up their regular planning and marking time starting tomorrow in secondary and area schools around the nation to cover for missing teachers or open posts. They won’t go to any meetings after school hours either.

There will also be rolling strikes, as they refuse to teach different year levels of students on certain days, known as rostering home.

This week, the third week of term was meant to start the beginning of PPTA members in different regions striking on different days, starting down south and finishing up north.

“PPTA Te Wehengarua members are committed to achieving a collective agreement that meets the needs of secondary education, in particular one that will help stem the flow of secondary teachers leaving the profession and attract people into secondary teaching,” Abercrombie said.