Budget pay rises 'smoke and mirrors': Teachers union

Teachers promised extra money for pay increases in the budget are describing the move as smoke and mirrors.

PPTA President Kate Gainsford says Finance Minister Bill English is promoting the $169 million earmarked for teachers pay as one of the main selling points for his budget.

But she says the claim is misleading, as it is not actually extra money but a hard-fought concession won during collective bargaining in 2007 and something the Government is now legally obliged to pay.

Ms Gainsford says there was actually very little in the Budget for teachers and schools and the union is deeply concerned about plans to cut staff funding by $50 million in 2011. She says that will be impossible without increasing student-teacher ratios.

- NEWSTALK ZB