Teachers could join forces for more strikes
Manawatu¯ primary and secondary school teachers could join forces on the picket line early next year.
Primary and intermediate teachers in Manawatu¯ went on strike yesterday as part of a nationwide rolling strike this week, and Manawatu¯ -Whanganui secondary school teachers held paid union meetings, both in response to pay offers from the Ministry of Education.
In their second strike of the year, primary teachers held a meeting at the Central Energy Trust Arena in Palmerston North in the morning, then marched to The Square and on to the Railway Land.
Teachers will vote on whether to accept the ministry’s offer at the end of the week.
However, it appears the consensus is teachers will reject the offer.
The feeling was the same when secondary school teachers voted at their meeting on whether to accept the ministry’s offer and now a strike is a possibility.
Post Primary Teachers’ Association’s Manawatu¯ Whanganui executive member Rob Torr said it was up to the membership to decide.
On the primary side, Ross Intermediate School principal Wayne Jenkins said there had been some gain for teachers in the offer because experienced teachers could earn more at the top of the scale.
But he believed workloads and class sizes still hadn’t been fixed. He said it wasn’t about lining teachers’ pockets. It was about learning conditions.
Turitea School principal Glenys Edmonds wasn’t impressed with the offer.
‘‘They’re [Government] not listening to what we’re suggesting.’’