Northland’s specialist education workers hit the streets today – not just with placards, but with Presley.
Their rendition of Elvis’ Return to Sender gave the Ministry of Education’s pay offer a musical boot, as they joined 2300 others in a nationwide protest over stalled negotiations.
About 60 specialist education staff, dressed in purple T-shirts and waving flags and placards, left the ministry’s Te Tai Tokerau area office in Whangārei at 10am, forming a picket line that wound its way through the central business district to the Town Basin.
There, they belted out their pay frustrations to the tune of the Elvis classic before touting for toots of support at nearby traffic lights – and passing motorists more than obliged, with a steady chorus of honking horns.
The two-hour strike was co-ordinated by two unions – the Public Service Association (PSA) and NZEI Te Riu Roa – representing different groups of ,inistry staff. Although bargaining separately, both unions say their members are united in frustration over inadequate pay offers and deteriorating working conditions.
The PSA, representing around 1500 members, includes staff working on national education programmes such as reform initiatives and emergency response.
Their concerns centre on the ministry’s attempt to remove flexible working provisions from their collective agreement and what they describe as a “miserly” pay offer that fails to keep pace with the cost of living.
NZEI Te Riu Roa represents about 800 field staff and service managers, including speech language therapists, early intervention teachers, psychologists, and advisers on deaf children.
These workers say they are stretched thin, with children waiting too long for support due to chronic understaffing and excessive overtime.
NZEI member Justine Blankenstein said the strike was a last resort.
“We’re very sad that it’s come to this, and we feel forced into it. Children are sitting on waiting lists for too long, staffing is inadequate, and we’re doing too much overtime,” she said.
“We tried to negotiate our collective agreements, but the offer didn’t address our issues – there was no new money for most of us.”
She also pointed to the May Budget announcement, which allocated funding to some areas of learning support.
“NZEI has calculated that the Government would need to invest $2.5 billion over five years to fix the long-standing issues. The Budget delivered some changes, but it was done by cutting other specialist staff, like resource teachers for literacy and Māori,” Blankenstein said.
From Wellington, PSA national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons said, “The ministry is threatening flexible working arrangements by removing explicit commitments in the collective to allow members to work in a way which suits their family circumstances. This is the thin end of the wedge, reflecting this Government’s hostility to what are modern workplace practices around the world.”
A letter distributed to parents ahead of the strike said the action was not taken lightly.
“We are between a rock and a hard place – trying to give tamariki the professional support they need while working under conditions that don’t reflect the value of our roles,” the letter read.
“To fix this, we need fair working terms and conditions. This will help attract and retain great people to work with children.”
The letter also noted that many families may never need to access specialist support but for those who do, the services are vital.
“Tamariki who need additional support and their whānau are at the centre of everything we do.”
Both unions are urging the ministry to return to the bargaining table with better offers.
The Ministry of Education has said mediation with NZEI was scheduled for July 31 and August 1, and discussions were continuing with the PSA.
“While we are disappointed that NZEI and PSA have chosen to proceed with industrial action despite initial offers, we remain committed to progressing collective agreements in good faith with the unions.”
Sarah Curtis is a news reporter for the Northern Advocate, focusing on a wide range of issues. She has nearly 20 years’ experience in journalism, most of which she spent court reporting in Gisborne and on the East Coast