Hundreds of Tauranga and Western Bay of Plenty teachers are marching through Mount Maunganui's main street as part of a nationwide strike. Photo/John Borren.
Employers and working parents in Tauranga are shuffling schedules in preparation for next week's primary and intermediate teachers' strike.
Bay of Plenty primary school teachers will strike on Tuesday, despite ongoing mediation this week between the Ministry of Education and their union, the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI).
Tauranga SpecialSchool assistant principal and NZEI Tauranga branch lobbyist Andrea Andresen said she expected "thousands" of students in Tauranga and the Western Bay would be affected by the strike.
She did not know of any schools staying open, but said some may have supervision options available.
More than 1000 NZEI members were expected to demonstrate across four rally points in Tauranga, including the Moffatt Rd roundabout and New World Mount Maunganui.
The Bay of Plenty Times spoke to several local parents, all of whom supported or felt neutral about the goals of the strike.
Some were struggling to make alternate childcare arrangements, while others said they would not be affected because they had support people to fall back on.
Pāpāmoa mum Helen Audin said she had just started a new job and could not ask for time off.
"My partner works nights so he's supposed to sleep in the day. But he's going to have to look after the school-aged kids in the day now and then work all night."
"I'm not unsupportive of the strike but it is inconvenient."
Maungatapu mum Tui Walker, who works full-time at Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology, said she supported teachers' right to speak out but rearranging her and her 9-year-old's day was "one thing I would rather not be worrying about".
She was relieved her employer was letting her work from home that day, but said in previous jobs she would have felt nervous to ask for that flexibility.
Lisa Watson of Pāpāmoa said she and her husband worked from home so one of them would probably have to take leave, which they were short on due to school holidays.
"It's really difficult to work from home if [our 6-year-old son] is going to be home too."
She was concerned about her son missing a day of school but knew there was a "greater good" as teachers were fighting for more resources for kids like him.
Kristen Leigh of Pāpāmoa said she worked part-time and fully supported the strike.
Being self-employed, she said she could be home with the kids.
"I usually end up with a few extra kids too if friends get stuck."
Two big Tauranga employers, Tauranga City Council (629 permanent staff) and Ballance Agri-nutrients (about 250 staff) both said they would look to provide parent employees with flexible options such as working from home, taking annual leave or varying working hours on the strike day.
Andresen said she expected there would be a new offer on the table by the end of the week for members to vote on.
She said there were issues the previous offer had not properly addressed.
One was the limited pay scale for teachers with a diploma - many of the country's teachers now aged in their 50s and 60s gained a diploma rather than a degree.
"In the last offer there was the ability for that cohort to go up one step, but there are still three steps they couldn't access."
Another issue was the amount of work teachers were expected to do.
Andrea Andresen, assistant principal at Tauranga Special School and NZEI Tauranga branch lobbyist. Photo / File
"I starting teaching in 1987, and I've seen exponential growth in the workload required over those 30 years."
That was partly due to an increase in the number of students with special needs, she said.
The Government's promise of an extra 600 support staff was good, Andresen said, but "it will take a while to have an impact".
Teachers rejected an offer of a 9.3 per cent rise over three years. The Government has not offered anything yet on other issues, such as lower class sizes. NZEI has asked for a 16 per cent pay rise over two years.
The series of rolling regional strikes will take place across the country next week, beginning in Auckland on Monday and ending with Wellington on Friday.
The Ministry of Education's Deputy Secretary sector enablement and support Katrina Casey said she would not be able to give an indication of how many schools would close during the strike until the day.
She was unable to provide figures on how many educators were not part of the union, but did say about 20 per cent of teachers nationwide were not union members.
Secondary teachers still negotiating
Secondary teachers have also been negotiating on pay, requesting 15 per cent plus a housing allowance in Auckland, Tauranga and Queenstown. They have received the same offer as primary teachers.
The Post-Primary Teachers' Association planned to begin a series of stopwork meetings this week while awaiting an improved offer.
Tuesday's DemonstrationsTauranga 10am Meeting for NZEI members
10.30-11.30am Picketing Moffatt Rd roundabout, clean up/picket Takitimu Drive, picket near New World Mount Maunganui, picketing in Te Puke.
