Teachers, principals reject pay offer

Primary and intermediate teachers and principals have voted ‘‘overwhelmingly’’ to reject the Government’s pay offer, saying it does not properly address a crisis in education.

It is the latest move by the sector that has twice resorted to industrial action in a bid to secure better pay and working conditions. About 30,000 New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa members had one week to cast their secret online ballot and to accept or reject the Ministry of Education’s latest collective agreement contract.

Votes closed at 6pm on Tuesday and the decision was sent to union members soon afterwards. There has been no decision on any possible strike action. In an email to teachers, NZEI president Lynda Stuart said on Monday night the increased offer failed to address important issues – time and class size.

The Government’s offer to principals also didn’t go far enough, she said.

‘‘These offers still do not do enough to fix the crisis in education. We know the public is still on our side, and that we have solidarity across schools and now also with our PPTA colleagues.

‘‘We end this year with some movement from the Government but still not enough to meet the needs of schools, teachers and children.’’

Stuart said NZEI would seek further negotiations immediately, asking for a new offer by early in the first term of 2019. The NZEI national executive would not be going back to teachers with any decision about next steps until the new year, she said. ‘‘However, we’ve heard many members are interested in exploring actions that focus on time and workload in term 1.’’

The Ministry of Education advised that yesterday was the day NZEI members’ pay would be docked for rolling strikes in November. The ministry said it was inviting NZEI to return to the bargaining table to discuss options for settling the collective ‘‘to meet their members’ priorities within the $698 million package’’. The ministry listed actions that were addressing NZEI’s concerns about teachers’ workloads. They included the Government spending $500m more for learning support, and $40m to boost teacher supply in the short to medium term.