More teachers’ strikes for secondary schools

Secondary and area school teachers around the country will strike again next week in a bid for better pay and working conditions.

The PPTA said members voted overwhelmingly in favour of more industrial action, including a one-day national strike next Wednesday, in support of their collective agreement negotiations.

In the second week of next term, they will put in place a plan to roster different year levels of students home on various days for four weeks.

On top of that, in the third week of Term 2, rolling strikes will be held where teachers will strike on different days in different regions starting at one end of the motu and finishing at the other.

Also from the first day of the next school term, PPTA Te Wehengarua members will not attend meetings outside school hours.

Members will also continue to refuse to give up their scheduled planning and marking time to relieve for absent teachers or positions that are vacant.

This follows the country’s largest-ever teachers’ strike last week where an estimated 50,000 kindergarten, primary, secondary and area school teachers, along with primary and area school principals took to the streets in protest.

”PPTA Te Wehengarua members have shown they are serious about getting a new collective agreement with salaries and conditions that will stem the worsening secondary teacher shortage throughout the motu,” said Chris Abercrombie, acting president of PPTA Te Wehengarua.

“Teachers would much prefer to be teaching in a settled environment this year, rather than taking extensive industrial action.

“However, we cannot stand by when the future of secondary education is at stake.”

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Abercrombie said the PPTA wanted a commitment from the Government that students would have specialist teachers for every subject as well as pay and conditions that will keep teachers in the profession and attract new teachers.

The PPTA and Ministry of Education had been in mediation over the last week and were meeting again today.

Abercrombie said if the executive believed there was a genuine pathway to an agreement that members would vote for, they would consider calling off the strikes.

Teachers and supporters on strike outside Rotorua Boys High School. Photo / Andrew Warner

The Government has offered a $4000 pay rise for each teacher this year followed by about another $2000 next year.

The PPTA said that equates to an increase of 4.4 per cent this year and 2.1 per cent next year. Taking into account the time the current collective agreement has been expired and inflation, the offer came to a 10 per cent pay cut in real terms, the union said.

Secondary teachers are also calling for more guidance staff to work with the increasing number of students with mental health issues and controls on their workload.

They were offered about a third of the guidance staff required and a working group to look at their workload after the agreement was signed.