Whanganui teachers to turn out at roundabouts, Majestic Square for strike

Primary school principals, teachers and support staff will gather at major roundabouts around Whanganui this morning for their second strike.

The educators remain unhappy with Ministry of Education pay offers, their workloads, lack of resourcing and more following their first strike in August.

Staff will be at the roundabouts from 8am until 9am and will then attend a teacher meeting to discuss their latest Ministry offer between 11am and noon at Whanganui Intermediate School.

Fighting for the future of their careers and their students, teachers are embarking on a second day of striking at Majestic Square today. Photo / Stuart Munro

From 12pm onwards they will be picketing, chanting and waving signs once more in Majestic Square as they did in August.

Last week the Ministry made a new offer to teachers that left increases of 3 per cent over three years unchanged.

However, it did offer a new top step and the partial removal of a cap on qualifications for some teachers from 2020.

The offer did not address class sizes or professional time claims.

The second round of strike action got under way on more than 100 street corners in Auckland at 7.30am yesterday. The rest of the North Island strikes with Whanganui today, except Wellington which will take its turn on Friday. South Island strike action will occur on Thursday.