Teachers to vote on full-day strike action

A half-day strike might not be enough for the country’s primary school teachers.

Primary teachers’ union NZEI Te Riu Roa last month voted to hold a half-day strike on August 15 in response to failed negotiations with the Ministry of Education over a pay increase.

Now, this week NZEI will vote on whether to extend the strike to a full day of industrial action.

NZEI did not initially propose a full-day strike, but president Lynda Stuart said the feeling with teachers was they wanted a full day.

‘‘The feeling was very intense as we moved around the country,’’ she said. ‘‘We’ve moved back into negotiations and we do want to come back to members with something a lot better than what we had.’’

Stuart said the union wanted to send the strongest possible message to the Government about the crisis facing schools.

She said negotiations between the ministry and teachers and principals was ongoing.

They are negotiating on teacher and principal pay, but also on workload and things like special education needs co-ordinators.

‘‘There’s a real depth of feeling out there. The whole issue around workload is very, very significant and that’s come through very, very strongly.’’

She said difficulties of attracting people to the profession, and not just in Auckland, was an issue.

They have had good public support, Stuart said.

The ballot will run for a week from Wednesday.

Teachers want a 16 per cent increase over two years, as well as other claims to improve staffing and workloads.

The Government has offered 86 per cent of teachers a pay rise ranging from about 2.2 per cent to 2.6 per cent a year for three years.

Teachers in their first three years, the other 14 per cent, were offered pay rises averaging 4.3 to 4.7 per cent a year for three years.