Teachers strike 2023: Why these Rotorua parents are backing their teachers

Today’s nationwide strike, in which thousands of school staff will walk off the job to call for better pay and working conditions, will go ahead with the support of Rotorua parents spoken to by the Rotorua Daily Post.

More than 50,000 early childhood workers, primary and secondary teachers and principals are taking part in a nationwide strike.

Both the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA), covering secondary and area school teachers, and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI), covering primary and kindergarten teachers, said members were striking for better pay, higher staffing numbers and more school funding.

Many schools in the Bay of Plenty will close for the day, with some offering supervision for children.

On CBD streets yesterday, mum of three Rosina Kahika said she raised her kids to go to their teachers whenever they needed help.

“But sometimes kids asking for help get turned down because the teachers need to prioritise the needs of the other kids,” Kahika said.

“I think the teachers should get all the support they can. They aren’t getting what they need right now.”

Kahika said she supported extra staffing at schools.

“They really need the help.”

Mum of three Rosina Kahika said teachers need more help to do their jobs. Photo / Andrew Warner

Outside Rotorua Primary School, mum Cheyenne Toa spoke said the striking teachers had her support.

“Good on them.”

Toa said the teachers needed to be heard.

“I feel like they don’t get the pay and acknowledgement they deserve for caring for our children,” Toa said,

“They have an important job. We need them.”

Heather Stewart, a mum based in Hamurana, said she felt the teachers’ strike was “fair enough, personally”.

“Teachers spend a lot of hours in school, plus the extracurricular stuff and working from home and on holidays.

“They’re limited in their resources and they do a lot.”

About 50,000 teachers will be striking across the country today.

Grandfather Jason Kiel was picking up three of his 11 grandchildren from Rotorua Primary School when he spoke to the Rotorua Daily Post.

“The way the world is now, it costs so much to live,” Kiel said.

Kiel said he could see where the teachers were coming from.

“It’s not an easy job being a teacher, that’s for sure.”

One Rotorua mum with five children, who spoke on the condition she was not named due to her employment circumstances, said she wished inflation was automatically taken into account in teachers’ salaries.

“I wish the Government would just index their pay to inflation so we don’t have to go through this process all the time,” she said.

“I am sure the process alone cost a fortune in negotiations.”

Ministry of Education employment relations and pay equity general manager Mark Williamson previously said the offer NZEI members had rejected so far provided “significant increases”.

“For example, teachers at the top of the scale would earn $96,820 after eight years teaching.”

Williamson said primary teachers were also offered improvements to many of the conditions that NZEI has been looking to address, and $380 million had been set aside for early learning teacher pay parity.