NorthTec teachers seek pay parity with Rotorua

NorthTec teaching staff start employment negotiations this week looking to catch up with other polytechnic teachers across the country.

NorthTec pay rates have slipped well behind the rates of teachers at other polytechnics.

“There is simply no logic to that pay gap,” says TEU advocate, Chan Dixon.

“NorthTec is subject to the same government funding as other polytechnics, but its teachers are well behind what they are paid elsewhere.”

Staff are seeking pay parity with Waiariki Institute of Technology in Rotorua, which currently sits in the low-middle range of polytechnic pay and is also soon to enter negotiations. Waiariki has a similar number of students and staff to NorthTec.

Like NorthTec it is a regional polytechnic and teaches similar courses such as tourism and forestry.

For NorthTec teachers to earn the same pay as teachers at Waiariki who do the same job, their pay will need to increase approximately 5-15 percent.

“We‘re working constructively with NorthTec,” says Dixon.

"We want to make sure it values its staff the same and that its teachers earn the same as teachers who do the same work elsewhere."

Negotiations start this Friday.

ends

© Scoop Media