Primary teachers consider new pay offer, deal includes $4500 lump sum and three pay rises

From RNZ

The Ministry of Education’s latest pay offer to head off another primary teachers’ strike includes a new $4500 lump sum payment.

Teachers had called off strike action planned for today as they waited for the revised offer.

RNZ understands the revised offer includes the lump sum plus a pay rise of $4000 or 6 per cent, whichever is higher, next month.

Next year the offer would provide a further 3 per cent pay rise in July and between 1.8 and 6.5 per cent in December.

The total pay rises appeared similar to the previous offer, which had a three-year term backdated to December 2022 and three pay increases totalling between 11 and 14 per cent.

However, the Educational Institute told members the lump sum more than made up for the lack of backdating and the new offer had a two-year term.

The new offer would also raise entry-level pay for teachers to $60,735 in 2024.

It would put the top of the scale at $100,000 by the end of 2024, as the previous offer had.

The new offer included a $710 payment to cover teacher registration, which was also in the previous offer.

NZEI members were scheduled to discuss the proposed deal at stop-work meetings this afternoon followed by a ballot ending on Tuesday next week.

The union told members its executive and bargaining team were making no recommendation to members about whether to accept or reject the offer.

Secondary teachers were also expecting a new offer after a meeting with Finance Minister Grant Robertson yesterday.