Secondary school teachers have taken to the streets around Aotearoa today as the second strike begins.
Around 20,000 PPTA members are set to strike today, fighting for better pay and conditions for the workforce.
It's the second strike this month after they joined their primary colleagues on March 16.
Speaking to Breakfast this morning, Auckland teacher Paul Stevens said he isn't confident in the negotiations going on between the PPTA and the Ministry of Education.
"They keep coming back to the table with the same pay offer and we keep saying actually that's not going to cut it to solve the problems within our profession."
He said there are increasing challenges in the classroom at the moment, particularly related to students coming off the back of a number of years of disruption.
"We are conscious that our strike action is impacting on that disruption as well but we need more teachers in the classroom, particularly in our specialist subjects."
Another Auckland teacher, Lawrence Mikkelsen said there's been a historical underfunding of teachers.
"We're basically asking for a CPI adjusted pay claim so that we're not losing pay relativity compared to what we were earning a few years ago.
"I think what we're asking for is absolutely fair and that seems to be the real sticking point with the ministry is that they basically haven't budged on money since October last year."
Speaking to Breakfast yesterday, Education Minister Jan Tinetti said she was “optimistic” negotiations will pull through before next term.
Jan Tinetti said “teachers are absolutely critical” and knows “how important they are”. (Source: Breakfast)
“We've had some really good progress in the last couple of weeks, so I remain optimistic.”
She acknowledged that teachers were stretched, which is why she’s engaged with them.
“I keep going back because I absolutely know how difficult it is for our teachers out there at the moment.
“We’ve got to get this right.”
She said “teachers are absolutely critical” and knows “how important they are”.
However, she did say one negotiation round won’t solve all the issues teachers are facing.
“What we’ve got to work out with the negotiating team at this point is.”
“We do have a tight economic outlook in this country; we need to make certain that we are absolutely hitting those points that are going to make the biggest impact on our teachers.
“But what we also need to do is be strategic about this; what is it that we can look at going forward for our teachers to make sure we’re not continually hitting this point every single negotiation.”
She said she’s “absolutely determined” to solve the issue by next term but can’t “100%” say it will happen.
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