A New Zealand Education Institute (NZEI) teacher and negotiator says teachers want the Government to prioritise money in their pay negotiation, as they have done in creating a $5.5 billion surplus.
Liam Rutherford says he was not surprised that teachers voted for more strike action in November after the latest offer of a 9.3 per cent increase from the Government.
The prime minister said her Government was doing a huge amount to try address the issues in education, but they weren’t able to do it in one round as teachers vote on additional strikes. (Source: Other)
“It (the offer) failed to hit any of the measures they felt it is going to take to settle it and they’ve been pretty resolute in sending strong messages to make sure this gets resolved as quickly as we can,” Mr Rutherford said.
“So, no (I) was unsurprised to see they’ve overwhelmingly voted in favour of more strike action.”
Mr Rutherford said it wasn’t just about the percentage increase.
“What it (the surplus) does show is that the Government can prioritise the money when they need to and that’s what we’re asking them to do now, this isn’t just about the percentage increase, this is about how are we going to ensure that we’ve got enough teachers for the students that we’ve got coming into classrooms,” he said.
The Govt says the teachers need to be patient, but with a $5 billion surplus eductators aren’t buying it. (Source: Other)
“We need to say once and for all to have a classroom of 40 year seven and eight boys is not acceptable in NZ and that’s what we’re here to talk about.”
“We’re talking about three points, we need to see a pay jolt for teachers so that their pay packet attracts not only those new to the profession but also holds on to the most experienced people who have been in the sector for more than 10 years.”
“We also know that they need to have a workload that also allows them to spend time with family and friends, we also need to make sure we’ve got the additional resources for those students with increasingly complex learning needs.”
“We have been talking about a range of solutions but ultimately we want to see a reduction in workload that allows teachers to teach and principals to lead and that 16 per cent pay jolt over two years.”
Mr Rutherford said the idea that teachers work 9 to 3 was not a reality, with teachers doing planning and meetings before and after school.
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