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Teachers’ strike begins

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Wed, 20 Oct 2010 5:01a.m. UPDATED 8:15AM

Teachers will strike today and tomorrow (NZPA file)

Teachers will strike today and tomorrow (NZPA file)

Thousands of Year 9 students stayed home today as secondary school teachers began strike action after rejecting the Ministry of Education's latest pay offer.

Today's strike is just the start of industrial action with Year 11 students being rostered off tomorrow and further action planned through to early December.

Education Minister Anne Tolley has slammed teachers as being unrealistic in tight economic times with their demands saying that "students and their parents" would lose out.

"There seems to be this idea that industrial actions are going to magic up more money," Mrs Tolley said.

This morning she said that other areas would have to give if teachers were to be paid more.

"I don't think the general public will like that," she told Radio New Zealand.

She urged teachers to return to the negotiating table and she disputed teacher claims that the ministry had not improved its offer.

Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA) president Kate Gainsford announced on Monday that teachers decided to strike after the Government's latest offer fell flat with the PPTA national executive.

She said that after three days of negotiations there had been no substantial shift since the Government's initial offer in June.

She told Campbell Live yesterday that teachers would only return to the bargaining table if the Ministry offered more money, removed clawbacks on conditions from the table and offered improvements in areas such as maximum class size.

There needed to be a cap of 30 students per class "so the proper kind of kind of teaching and learning can take place", she said.

Education Workforce group manager Fiona McTavish said the Ministry could not meet demands on class size because the place to "determine education policy was not at the bargaining table".

Teachers were offered a half-percent pay increase in the first year, a 1.9 percent increase in the second year, a one-off payment of $1000 and an additional 3000 middle management allowances worth $1000 each.

That was compared with an earlier offer of no increase in the first year, a 1.8 percent increase in the second, and the one-off payment.

Secondary School Principals Association president Patrick Walsh said yesterday the industrial action could not have come at a worse time for students.

"Year 11s are going to be sent home this week, it's only three weeks out from their external NCEA exams and it's one day that they could ill-afford to miss," he told Radio New Zealand.

However, due to today's large earthquake aftershock near Christchurch the PPTA has excluded Canterbury schools from this week's strikes.

"We have decided on compassionate grounds to call off planned industrial action for this week," Ms Gainsford said.

NZPA

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Comments

28 Oct 2010 11:36a.m.

kazza wrote:

as i Secondary student myself i find this teachers strike absolute rubbish. I personally am not affected by by the strike as i am year 12 however i have been in the same position as this years year 11's and the stress is horrendous, let alone having days off. Surely the PPTA teachers of all people would have the knowledge and common sense to realize that striking at this time of year could have devastating effects on students and parents, if not maybe they should consider a new career path...

20 Oct 2010 09:37p.m.

WakeyWakey wrote:

Andrew, you have missed the point. The education budget is nothing to do with teachers. They are there to teach. They are not there to set policy. For the teachers and the PPTA to dictate policy is arrogance beyond belief. Teachers: get back to school and do the job you are very well paid for. If you want to dictate policy then stand for parliament.

20 Oct 2010 07:35p.m.

Andrew wrote:

Has it not occurred to anyone - Ms Tolley included - that the last education budget might have been altogether unrealistic? Budgets are no more than crude management devices based on a fiscal prediction for the coming year. There is a lot of guesswork involved and like the bean-counters themselves they are far from infallible. Ms Tolley would do well to support her department and push for massive increases in allocation to address the haemorrhaging from within as teachers continue to pack their bags in their droves for Australia, or leave and are lost to the profession altogether. All the pious self-righteous “I haven’t had a pay rise so why should they” “make pay increases based on performance” bleating in these columns misses the mark altogether and perhaps tells us why parental backing and support for their children’s schools and respect for their teachers might not be what it once was. The government has to do better. New Zealand has to do better. Let us live in hope that a crisis such as this will be the catalyst for change.

20 Oct 2010 04:59p.m.

Jenza wrote:

Stop negotiating with them, full stop. If they want to strike then let them, it's their money they're losing and when the public stakes into account what they're paid, the holidays they have, they will back the Government. They're greedy for no good reason when their salaries are FAR above the country average. It's disgusting, Dock them, and then start disciplinary action.

20 Oct 2010 01:21p.m.

Ranger wrote:

It is time to reward good teachers and to encourage the useless ones to move on. The idea that one pay scale can cover all is ludicrous and only helps the idiots who should not be there to thrive. This socialization of teaching is not working and the unions involved should be ashamed. They have turned a once proud profession into little more than a gaggle of marxist led zombies.

20 Oct 2010 10:52a.m.

JD wrote:

It may seem trivial, by why are the bulk of the striking teacher shown on the media, all wearing red? Is this a marketing strategy from there principle political backers, if so then Labour have once again not read the mood of he nation very well. The teacher cry about there so-called tough working conditions, sorry teachers, you don't know how lucky you have it, I work in the forestry industry where the machines and environment both continuity try and kill you from dawn to knock off should you take your eye off the game for even a second, or how about those working construction, fishing boats, prison guards, Police, the list goes on. I'm sure most of these people would not see standing in a warm classroom for 5 hours a day as hard working conditions.

20 Oct 2010 10:36a.m.

Parent wrote:

This is a purely political strike. The last two years have seen a marked increase in political propaganda being sent home from schools.
Decisions about educational standards are made at the ballot box - not by militant teachers. That's how democracy works.

20 Oct 2010 09:50a.m.

Peter wrote:

Some teachers need to be slapped awake!! Firstly, everyone who works contributes to society whether they are drainlayers, doctors or teachers. We are all required to make things happen and we all want more money. When teachers want more, they need to realise where, but more importantly who the "more" will come from - it is the rest of us. Now if we are sucking it in why shouldn't they? Because education is valuable I hear them say, yep well so is health, so is food, so is water, so is housing, so are many other thing. Lets give everyone a pay rise. Secondly, labour laws are great, when they protect the poor from the rich. But teachers, as they keep telling us, are very important and valuable, so one would think they could easily find another career if the going really was too tough. Its not so for the guy at the bottom, he needs a union to protect him, he can't walk away. But teachers are different, they could earn in the private sector we hear, well my advice is to have a go and stop mucking the rest of us around. If you do all leave then may be you will get a pay rise but stop calling bluff like the pack of whingers that you are And from the comedy files, I saw a teacher pleasing that they worked during term breaks - hahahaha - like the rest of us get the school holidays off.

20 Oct 2010 09:06a.m.

Matt wrote:

I find it hypocritical the signs that teachers are holding. Smaller classes, better working conditions, oh and more money. I don' think there is any other occupation that has had the meteoric rise in base wage, ever. I don't think teachers should be getting pay rises, it's not warranted. If they upskilling in their role, then sure, but not just for the hell of it. "Give us the tools to teach"?? Equates to more money for the schools not teachers. I'm outraged that teachers are harping on about how students are losing out.... damn straight they are, their teachers are too busy sending home students and disrupting their schooling to teach! Few employers can afford cost of living increases per year, what gives teachers the right to expect it, especially when it's coming out of the taxpayers pocket in a recession. It's just disgusting. I fully back Anne Tolley and hope that she stands up against the teachers. And if teachers receive a cent, I would expect huge caveats on their performance in doing their job, students excelling, teachers tested regularly on subject matter and teaching ability.

20 Oct 2010 08:46a.m.

Mike B wrote:

The PPTA can sit and say stay home and strike. They are being paid. Obviously teachers do earn enough seeing they can take time off without pay. I was one of those sympathetic parents who felt for the teachers, but that has all changed now. As explained by the Minister, schools are funded per student numbers which is nowhere near the 30 students per class. So if the school can not manage their class sizes, don’t blame the government. Teachers have had a 4% increase per year for the past 4 years, please show me what other government department has had those sort of increases? All teachers I socialize with, and there are many, will rub it in how they have such long holidays and short working days, yet we see teachers on TV trying to gain sympathy by saying they work after hours and sport etc. etc. Time to import teachers at lower salaries who are willing to work and are in the profession for the love of it and not for the benefits it offers.