Teachers’ pay

So it’s official. New Zealand teachers’ unions are planning strike action towards achieving their own pay rises – of upwards of 14 per cent in some cases (according to the Herald this week).

From gauging the opinions of friends, coworkers, Nelsonians and New Zealanders at large, most people seem to really hope that the Government will stand firm against these teachers’ unions, at least until their demands are more realistic and comparable with the pay increases (if any) that most other New Zealanders might expect this year.

There are three reasons for this:

1) No other sector of society enjoys such holiday conditions as public sector teachers do while still having such reasonable salaries and conditions to match. 2) Many other sectors of NZ society also feel long overdue for a pay increase – and feel equally left behind by cost-of-living increases. 3) The teachers have nothing like the historical grievances of the nurses, and they generally do not have the support of the public at large, especially so when such large pay demands will come directly out of taxpayers’ pockets.

It is also interesting to see that these teacher strikes will take place soon after their two weeks of paid holidays (just part of the unequalled taxpayerpaid annual holiday packages teachers currently receive).

Tom Harrison

Nelson, July 5