Secondary Hold Rolling Strikes Throughout Aotearoa New Zealand

More than 20,000 secondary teachers will hold rolling strikes around the country this week, starting with the entire South Island tomorrow.

The strikes are in protest at the lack of progress in negotiations for a collective agreement that meets the needs of secondary education and the secondary teaching profession.

“Teachers would much rather be in the classroom concentrating solely on teaching and learning, than having to take disruptive industrial action, but we have a teacher shortage that needs to be 
addressed urgently through better pay and conditions,” says Chris Abercrombie, PPTA Te Wehengarua acting president.

“Every student has a right to have a specialist teacher in every subject but tragically that is not the case in an increasing number of schools.”

PPTA’s annual staffing survey, released recently, found that one in seven advertised classroom teacher positions had no applicants at all from within New Zealand or from overseas. 
One third of advertised positions could not be filled at all and 5% were filled by Limited Authority to Teach (LAT) appointments.

“We need pay and conditions that will keep our skilled and experienced teachers in the profession, attract people into teaching, and encourage those teachers who have left to return to the job they love.

“Secondary teaching is an awesome career, and it is a hugely demanding one. It needs to be valued more highly and the work needs to be more manageable. We are committed to getting a satisfactory settlement of our collective agreement - the future of secondary education and our profession depend on it.”

Rolling strike schedule:

Tuesday 9 May - entire South Island

Wednesday 10 May - Wellington, Hutt Valley, Manawatu-Whanganui, Wairarapa, Taranaki, Hawkes Bay

Thursday 11 May - Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Western Bay of Plenty, Central Plateau, Hauraki, Coromandel, East Coast, Counties-Manukau, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, Northland

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