Whanganui teacher aides celebrate the long march to fair pay

Sue Nimmo (far right) has been campaigning for fair pay for over a decade and was standing with her colleagues at Tawhero School in 2009. Photo / Stuart Munro

School Support Staff Week is being celebrated around the country this week and the theme for 2020 centres around wins.

Late last year, education union NZEI Te Riu Roa signed a collective agreement with the Ministry of Education to award all school support staff the Living Wage, and now teacher aides are in the process of considering a pay equity settlement offered by the Government.

Whanganui teacher aide and NZEI support staff national caucus chairwoman Sue Nimmo said the Government's offer will be voted on next week and she was quietly optimistic it will be accepted.

"After more than three years of negotiations, teacher aides have been offered pay increases and improvements to our working conditions," she said.

"For too long teacher aides have been underpaid, facing constant uncertainty about job security and a lack of opportunities for professional development."

Nimmo was in involved in the lengthy process of evidence gathering, interviews with comparators and negotiations with the Ministry of Education.

"We actually started this dialogue back in 2007 and it was good to be involved in a process which quantifies the value of the work we do."

The proposed agreement will give teacher aides pay rises of 23-34 per cent, which equates to increases of $4 to $6.60 an hour.

On announcing the offer, Education Minister Chris Hipkins praised the work of New Zealand's more than 22,000 teachers aides, who are mostly women.

"Teacher aides are frontline workers who work closely with some of our most vulnerable children. They play an important role in our schools as we respond to the challenges of Covid-19 and get the country back on its feet," Hipkins said.

"The coalition Government recognises the vital role teacher aides play in schools and we have been focused on making sure that we do a good job for them."

Nimmo said she and other teacher aides based at Tawhero School have had a busy time providing remote learning assistance during the Covid-19 emergency.

"It has been a steep learning curve for some of us who had no experience with Zoom and webinars but I'm proud of us - we have done very well.

"Most of the children are back at school now and we are pleased to be back as well."

Teacher aides will vote online to endorse the settlement from June 15 to 19.

Nimmo said that now teacher aides have paved the way, the union will continue working with the ministry towards pay equity for administrators, kaiārahi i te reo, science techs, co-ordinators, librarians and all other support staff.