Secondary teachers lodge new claim; 99% reject government offer

Secondary teachers today lodged with the Ministry of Education a new one-year claim for smaller class sizes, improved pay for teachers with additional responsibilities, equitable non-teaching time for part-timers and 7.5% on basic pay.

It follows two weeks of meetings in which teachers voted overwhelmingly to reject the government’s response to their first claim.

They also voted to hold a one-day strike before the end of term 3 should there be no substantive response to their new claim in the next few weeks.

The response to the government’s offer was near unanimous, with 99% of teachers rejecting it. Ninety-one percent of teachers also voted to adopt the alternative one-year claim while votes* in favour of the strike action this term and longer term action proposals were overwhelming.

PPTA president Robin Duff said the high turnout of members and unparalleled support for the recommendations demonstrated teachers’ sense of betrayal over the government’s unwillingness to continue the professional pathway developed by a Ministerial Taskforce in 2003.

“Teachers were keen to continue to develop the professional components promoted by Taskforce but the Ministry’s response, presumably on the Minister’s orders, was ‘no’ to virtually every professional issue in our original claim.”

Mr Duff said even the Ministry’s salary offer failed to both keep pay in real terms up with rates set by an independent panel in 2002 or meet secondary recruitment and retention pressures.

He said the one-year claim, developed by teachers last November as a fall back plan, was still about making secondary teaching a first choice profession.

“It’s about maintaining pay rates and improving conditions to attract and retain the very best teachers, reducing class sizes so that every student has adequate time with their teacher, encouraging more people into senior and middle management roles and supporting the part-timers in our schools.”

Mr Duff said strike action was not yet inevitable. “It is not too late for the government to make a decent investment in the future of secondary education, but it must recognize that secondary teachers are looking for a substantially improved commitment.”

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