30,000 Teachers To Strike On 16 March

Around 30,000 primary school teachers and principals, kindergarten teachers and area school teachers and principals have voted to take strike action on Thursday 16 March.

NZEI Te Riu Roa members last week rejected a second offer from the Ministry of Education to settle their collective agreements. Area school teachers have not yet received a second offer and have joined the strike to attempt to make progress with their negotiations.

Teachers and principals want the Government to increase staffing and funding to schools and kindergartens so that teachers can better meet the needs of children, and to improve current pay offers in order to attract and retain people in the teaching profession.

NZEI Te Riu Roa members will join PPTA secondary school teachers taking strike action next Thursday, meaning up to 50,000 teachers will be participating in industrial action next week.

“The current offers from the government don’t do enough for teachers, principals or tamariki,” said NZEI Te Riu Roa president Mark Potter. “Strike action is the last thing we want to do, but members want to send a message to the government about how serious we are about needing change.”

Potter said the pay component of the offer did not meet cost of living increases members were facing, but pay was only one part of the decision to strike. He said the current offers did little to address serious issues around funding and understaffing, ratios and sick leave.

“Of course the rising cost of living plays into this, but the bigger picture is that if we are to retain and attract quality educators we must improve work conditions in the sector.

“We all want the best for our students but without changes to the system we can’t give it to them. This affects tamariki, because teacher’s working conditions are children’s learning conditions.”

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