Icy conditions didn’t deter a McFlurry of strikes in Hawke’s Bay on Wednesday, as teachers and McDonald’s workers joined nationwide walkouts for better pay and conditions.
Across the country, nearly 20,000 teachers walked off the job. Hawke’s Bay teachers gathered in both Napier and Hastings.
The strikes come as the Government offers teachers a 1% annual pay rise for three years in collective agreement negotiations.
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has defended the offer, noting teachers’ pay had already risen 14% in recent years and that more than 60% now earn over $100,000, but the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) president Chris Abercrombie called it “the lowest increase in a generation”.
In Hastings, teacher Jessie O’Connor joined dozens of colleagues at the Stortford Lodge roundabout, carrying signs in the rain and calling for a “fair recognition” for their work.
“The Government needs to prioritise education ... They need to back us up with proper funding and support,” she told Hawke’s Bay Today.
“We hope for a realistic and a more respectful negotiation process that recognises what we do, the rising costs across the board, and that they come back with an offer that’s not insulting teachers and the work they do.”
Havelock North High School teacher Carl Vose, who was a builder for 30 years before becoming a teacher, said striking meant losing money, but it was necessary for the cause.
“We lose a day’s pay ... I think it’ll be something about $3.5 million the Government will get back for the day for a strike.”
Judy Waapu, branch chair at Flaxmere College with more than 40 years’ experience, said the Government’s most recent 1% offer was “derogatory”.
“Fair pay, that’s all we ask. Judith Collins says teachers are paid $147,000. In reality, it’s closer to $103,000, far less than MPs we once matched in the 1980s,” Waapu says.
“Over my 40-year career, I haven’t heard any MP be so out of touch of what is happening in New Zealand,” she says.
She said the lack of resourcing and large class sizes left students without the support they needed.
“It hurts teachers deeply when you can’t get to every child because you don’t have enough time or support staff. Part of our claim is pastoral care, to let us do that.”
Waapu said teachers were determined to keep going.
“Why am I still here at 68? Because I’m passionate about the children we are trying to educate. It’s important they get a fair deal in their education,” she says.
“We will continue to stand up and fight for education in New Zealand. We won’t let that go.”
Meanwhile, members of the Unite Union who work at McDonald’s in Hastings went on strike from 11am to 12pm to also protest their pay.
About 10 workers were in front of the store on Heretaunga St West were holding placards and chanting for better pay.
Assistant national secretary Manawatū at Unite Union Gerard Hehir said, like teachers and nurses, McDonald’s workers had been made a pay offer less than inflation.
“These workers have had all their costs go up, they can’t afford their income to go down.”
Hehir said a lot of people who work at McDonald’s were school kids, but said the workers who were striking on Wednesday were adults who pay mortgages, rent, and support their whānau and family.
“They need decent pay and the living wage – what they don’t need is a pay cut,” he said.
Hehir said the living wage was going to be $28.95 per hour from September 1.
The Hastings McDonald’s was the only one in Hawke’s Bay to go on strike on Wednesday, but Hehir said more were planned around the region and country.
“We’re hoping to get this back to the bargaining table ... we want a resolution, but we absolutely need to apply pressure,” Hehir said.
McDonald’s spokesperson Simon Kenny said the company was currently bargaining for a new collective agreement with the union.
“Unite emailed us two weeks ago with an update from their side, and a stated preference to plan for another round of negotiations,” he said.
“Media reporting then indicated they were planning a strike, which went ahead later that day.
“We contacted Unite to clarify the situation and next steps. They replied earlier today regarding proposed dates for another round of negotiations, which we are now reviewing.”
Kenny said McDonald’s respected their right to strike, and would continue to follow the agreed protocols and work through a range of claims in good faith.