Teachers across the country will participate in rolling strikes this week as negotiations continue with the Government.
The strikes, which begin today, are continuing despite a last minute offfer from the Ministry of Education which the Post Primary Teachers’ Association Te Wehengarua (PPTA) has declined.
The PPTA said the offer was still sitting below the Cost of Living increase.
PPTA acting president Chris Abercrombie said the association has considered the offer and decided against it.
“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 rolling regional strikes will begin today in the South Island, then move to the lower North Island on Wednesday.
Wednesday’s strike region will encompass Wellington, Hutt Valley, Manawatū-Whanganui, Hawke’s Bay and Taranaki.
On Thursday, the strikes move further up the country with Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Coromandel, Auckland and Northland teachers striking.
The strike action is set to continue and includes PPTA members 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.
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.
As the year draws to a close, Waikato Herald is taking stock of 2024.