Secondary school teachers picket outside Education Minister Jan Tinetti's in March. Photo / Emma Houpt
Tauranga teachers will protest outside Education Minister Jan Tinetti’s office for a third time calling for a pay increase to meet the rising cost of living.
All Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) members in the city will be on strike today as rolling nationwide action that began this week reaches the Bay of Plenty. They will be joined by local NZEI Te Riu Roa area school teacher members.
The strikes were happening as negotiations between the PPTA and the Ministry of Education continued.
The ministry said it had upped its latest offer but the PPTA said it was still below increasing living costs.
PPTA president Chris Abercrombie said while its national executive would meet later this week to consider the offer, they could not see it providing “a clear pathway towards settlement”.
PPTA Western Bay of Plenty regional chairwoman Julie Secker said she expected a “hearty group” of secondary and area school teachers to turn up at Tinetti’s office.
Secker told the Bay of Plenty Times teachers wanted to make it clear “we’re still waiting for a proper offer that is going to bring us in line with inflation”.
This was the third time teachers would picket outside the office of the former Tauranga principal for better pay and working conditions, she said.
“We just feel because she’s our local [Labour] MP - and the Minister of Education - it’s a good opportunity for Jan to listen to us.”
Secker said they were striking to bring about long-term change to the sector.
“We don’t want to do it. However, we’re all thinking long-term here. If we don’t get this right ... we’re going to be back doing this in two to three years,” she said.
“We wish that the Ministry of Education would think along the same lines as us. We are all tired of saying the same thing and we would like this to come to a satisfactory ending.”
Other planned industrial action includes PPTA members not attending work meetings outside school hours and refusing to relieve classes for absent teachers or vacant positions during their scheduled planning and marking times.
Members were also rostering different year levels of students to be at home on various days over the next four weeks.
On March 16, tens of thousands of primary, area, and secondary school teachers participated in a historic one-day walkout.
In a statement, Tinetti said she was “surprised” members were continuing to strike while attending facilitated bargaining.
She said progress had been made, but in the current economic environment “we can’t fix everything teachers want sorted in a single round of bargaining”.
“The last thing that anyone wants is more disrupted learning for our kids and young people.”
Ministry of Education employment relations general manager Mark Williamson said the latest offer upped the maximum base salary for all teachers by 11.11 per cent to $100,000 by December 2024, up from $96,000 in its October offer.
Similar increases applied across the teachers’ pay scale, with base rates increasing by 11 per cent to 14 per cent by December 2024, he said.
“This means, with progression, teachers who are not yet at the top of the scale will receive actual increases of up to 31 per cent during the three years of the agreement.”
In his view, it was disappointing the PPTA had not paused strike action given the “comprehensive offer” made.
“We trust that PPTA’s members will urgently review how our increased investment, across the more than 15 elements of the offer, directly addresses their concerns.”
Williamson said the offer addressed “key issues” brought to the negotiations by the union, he said.
This included higher pastoral care time allowances - from 1,133 in October to 1,340 in the latest offer.
The proposed term of the latest offer was also three years, up from two in October, he said.