Secondary school teachers in Central North Island are surprised a pay offer many of them rejected has been ratified by colleagues in other regions.
Eighty-three per cent of Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA) members throughout the country who voted in paid union meetings over the past fortnight have ratified the agreement.
The
new settlement included pay increases, ranging from 8.74 per cent to 13.1 per cent over three years, guaranteed non-contract time for teachers with management units from next year, and increased mandatory non-contract time for all secondary teachers from 2006.
PPTA Bay of Plenty branch chairman Doug Clark, said about 500 teachers met at Rotorua Convention Centre on Monday and more voted against the settlement than for it, although he would not say how many.
Mr Clark, who is a teacher at Tokoroa's Forest View High School, said teachers were not happy with the pay increase offered as it was not enough to keep up with projected inflation rates. They were also unhappy about being tied into a three-year contract.
Given the voting around the country, however, Central North Island teachers now had no option but to go along with the settlement, he said.
"We just have to accept the offer and go along with democracy."
The Bay of Plenty was the only one of 24 regions to reject the offer, he said.
National PPTA president Phil Smith, said he could neither confirm or deny whether Bay of Plenty teachers voted against the settlement.
"It's a national vote and the only figure that matters is the national figure."
He said 75 per cent of members throughout the country voted and Bay of Plenty teachers had the right to their say, just as any other region did.
He said the new agreement would make secondary teaching a more attractive and worthwhile profession.
"Teachers have endorsed a process which will see real improvements in their working conditions and which paves the way for long-term solutions to the recruitment and retention issues that have dogged the sector for too long."
After the 2001-2002 round, many PPTA members wanted a new way of working, Mr Smith said.
"The Ministerial Taskforce, our consultation process with members, and meetings with the Education Ministry enabled us to develop a set of proposals focusing not just on the next three years, but beyond that."
- NZPA
