Wages rise could see schools cut staff hours
The arrival of the British and Irish rugby team in Whangarei is the start of a nationwide tour that promises old-style billeting, post-match beers, writes Jonathan Milne.
KIDS could miss out on the learning support they need as schools struggle with minimal operational grants increases they say won’t cover a wage rise for support staff being negotiated with the Ministry of Education.
Support staff in schools are negotiating fairer pay and are in mediation with the Ministry of Education for pay equity, while the teachers’ union NZEI is bargaining on their behalf for a rise in pay in their collective agreement.
On Thursday the Government announced $1.1 billion in new operating funding over the next four years after more than 400 principals signed an open letter to the Government but NZEI president Lynda Stuart said the cash wouldn’t even cover inflation, and schools would continue to battle to make ends meet.
An increase in teacher aides pay could lead to a cut in the hours they worked at a school unless there was more money according to Birkenhead Primary School’s principal Nigel Bioletti.
‘‘A teacher aide being paid more might get fewer hours. Fifteen hours support for a child next year might work out to 13. We can’t create money out of nowhere unless you’ve got a lot of locally raised funds – in less affluent areas that would be a struggle.’’
A teacher aide at the school, Nicole Young, said any extra money would be a sign of respect for the work support staff did within the school and the community, but support staff were after job security as well.
Support staff hours could drop as funding hadn’t been increased enough to cover potential wage rises, they may find they suddenly lose their job, or hours offered to support staff could fluctuate from term to term due to a lack of funding surety.
Education Minister Nikki Kaye said since 2010 to 2016 the cumulative increase in government spending on operational grant funding was more than 16 per cent, almost a third more than actual CPI inflation for the same time, which was 11 per cent.
‘‘Pay increases are wider than just operational grants. For example, we have the Funding Review currently taking place which is looking at potential changes to the way schools are funded,’’ she said. NOSTALGIA is as hot these days as a steaming Georgie Pie straight from the oven as the British and Irish Lions arrive this week: first match, the NZ Barbarians in Whangarei this Saturday.
And Dick Langdon from Whangarei Heads will be there at Toll Stadium with his son because, for the 93-year-old, this is a return of all that’s best about touring rugby: Lions coach Warren Gatland has promised his team will get out there in the schools and hospitals of our communities, will meet the local players, and go out for a drink afterwards. At the 2015 Rugby World Cup, Gatland famously invited tournament minnows Uruguay back to the Welsh dressing room for a few beers and to watch the All Blacks game on TV. This camaraderie is what rugby is about, right? This is how it used to be.
Days were, the Lions played 23 matches on a tour. Buller, Ashburton, Wairarapa Bush, North Auckland – no province was too small.
Blood, guts, beer, girls and, in the North at least, shellfish.
Langdon should know. He ran on in North Auckland’s 1950 match against the Lions when his captain, Johnny Smith, was hurt.
Northland had turned out a crowd of 12,000 to the game in Whangarei. ‘‘Smith scored under the posts, but the ref called it offside. Everyone went berserk in the stand. Even the Lions said afterwards that it was a perfect try.
‘‘We lost 8-6. It was a good game. We should really have won it. I suppose everyone says that ...’’
Afterwards, the Lions, the North Auckland team and Langdon, a returned Air Force serviceman, got together for the after-match function. ‘‘We turned on a big feed for them, shellfish, toheroas, everything you like. But the Lions weren’t that keen on that stuff. I think they’d been told to take it easy on the shellfish, or they might get food poisoning.’’
Then it was up to the rugby clubrooms for a dance.
Days away from the Lions’ arrival in Whangarei, there’s a growing hum of excitement in town. Billeting visiting fans, beers at the clubrooms, the best of days gone by. So is this mere nostalgia or are our communities clutching for something more?
It’s the end of the school week, and some of the 9- and 10-yearolds at Whangarei’s low-decile Tikipunga Primary School are running off some steam on the rugby field, before their parents arrive to pick them up.
Daesiah Leatinuu, 10, says her rugby hero is still Richie McCaw. ‘‘He never gives up,’’ she says. ‘‘You never see him backing out.’’
And when her mum, her stepdad and her dad come along to watch her play netball, ‘‘It makes me want to try harder, it makes me want to keep going.’’
But after the Manchester terror attack, the Lions tour is about more than just entertainment and showing off the sport to keen kids like Daesiah.
At headquarters in Wellington, Superintendent Sandra Manderson – the National Commander for Major Sporting Events – says police are continually updating their security plans, and liaising with overseas law enforcement agencies.
Northland Rugby Union has hired 50 local security guards, and another 70 are being bussed up from Auckland. And a specialist police search team will go through the team buses and venues with a fine toothcomb, and