PPTA expects new pay offer
High school teachers say they are expecting a new pay offer from the Government today, as their primary school colleagues continue mediation over their own pay claim.
Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) president Jack Boyle said his executive would meet by teleconference at 7pm to consider any new offer before secondary teachers begin stopwork meetings around the country tomorrow.
“At our conference last month we rejected the offer that we had. We also set a line in the sand that November 6 was when we would expect an improved offer to take to paid union meetings,” he said. “We haven’t got one at this point.”
But the Ministry of Education may struggle to meet the deadline because it is still in mediation with the primary teachers’ union, the NZ Educational Institute (NZEI), and is likely to try to make similar offers to both unions.
Mediation with the NZEI began in the Employment Relations Authority in Wellington at 10.30am yesterday and adjourned just before 5pm. It will continue today.
NZEI members have voted for oneday regional strikes next week, starting in Auckland on Monday and ending in Wellington on Friday, after rejecting the Education Ministry’s last offer of a 9.3 per cent pay rise over three years. The NZEI is seeking a 16 per cent pay rise over two years.
Secondary teachers are seeking an immediate 15 per cent pay rise plus a housing allowance of up to $100 a week in Auckland, Tauranga and Queenstown. They have been offered the same as NZEI.