Northland schools support staff lobby for better pay

Whangarei teacher aide Adrienne Birch was one of up to 150 school support staff in Northland that took part in the rally. Photo / Michael Cunningham

More than 400 support staff in Northland schools have joined others throughout the country in lobbying the government for better pay and working conditions.

The Northland staff are members of the New Zealand Education Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa which organised a rally at the Town Basin in Whangarei on Saturday as part of a growing call for action on pay equity and equity for women.

Similar rallies were organised by the union throughout New Zealand on Saturday.NZEI Te Riu Roa is pursuing pay equity claims for a number of female-dominated support workers employed through the Ministry of Education such as teacher aides, early childhood teachers, administration staff, science technicians and caretakers.

Schools pay their support staff out of their operations grant but NZEI has been calling for their pay to be centrally funded like teachers.

Rally organiser in Whangarei, Adrienne Birch, said teacher aides in particular were either on minimum pay or just above it which was low compared to the work they performed.

"We compete with the operational cost of a school so if there's not enough money to pay teacher aides, then our job is the first one to go," she said.

"Sometimes our contracts run term to term and some schools offer their teacher aides month to month contracts which means we're on edge not having that job security."

Birch is a teacher aide at Whangarei Primary School as well as a careworker for the aged.

Birch said up to 150 people, including teachers and school principals, attended Saturday's rally to make the community aware of how school support staff were being treated in terms of pay.

"It's time for the government to recognise there are groups of women who need to be acknowledged for the work they do for our kids in school. This time, we want to see a decent settlement."

NZEI will start negotiating pay equity claim with the government by the end of this year.