Long delay in pay increase for teachers unacceptable

16 July 2019

Teachers will have to wait until 11 September for pay increases won as part of their collective agreement negotiations settled in June, according to an update sent to schools today from Novopay.

NZEI Te Riu Roa National Secretary Paul Goulter says the long wait for pay increases to take effect is completely unacceptable and the union is seeking legal advice.

"Teachers fought for more than a year to get their new collective agreement. It's entirely unacceptable that they now have to wait another ten weeks to see pay increases in their bank accounts," he says.

"The Ministry didn't have trouble quickly docking teachers' pay when they took strike action, so it's a bit rich for them to now say it'll take this long to make changes to teachers' pay," says Mr Goulter.

"Teachers are really unhappy with this delay and it's tainted any trust and goodwill that the Ministry might have gained with the settlement," he said.

The pay increases in the agreement take effect from 1 July, and usually payroll changes take a small amount of time to implement. A delay of this length is unprecedented. Teachers will be back paid to 1 July when the changes are made.

ENDS

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