Secondary teachers turn down pay offer, vote to strike

Secondary teachers have voted overwhelmingly to reject the Government’s latest pay offer and to take strike action.

Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA) president Jack Boyle and vice-president Melanie Webber told media at Parliament yesterday the Government needed to make a “significantly improved” offer before term one next year.

The current action would be in the form of a one-day strike.

“We have made this decision because the Government has given us no other options,” Boyle said.

Education needed a “complete correction”, he said, and secondary teachers were seeking a 15 per cent hike in the first year to bring salaries up to scratch.

Boyle and Webber said the recruitment and retention of quality, homegrown teaching staff and addressing workload and pay issues required money.

“For the Government to say there’s no more money over and over, and it’s up to us to shuffle the deckchairs, is frustrating to say the least,” Boyle said.

The Education Ministry has offered 3 per cent a year for three years, or 9.3 per cent by November 2020. The PPTA had held meetings with members nationwide since November 7 to discuss the offer.

The proposed 9.3 per cent rise would lift beginner secondary teachers’ base salaries from $51,200 to $55,137 and base salaries for those at the top of the scale from $78,000 to $85,233.

Education Minister Chris Hipkins issued a brief response yesterday.

“We welcome PPTA back to the negotiating table, which is scheduled to happen next week,” he said.

Education Ministry Deputy Secretary Ellen MacGregor-Reid the ministry was “surprised” the PPTA was already threatening to strike next year as it still had four days of agreed bargaining to go before the end of the year, with the ministry ready to schedule more.

“We are focused on doing everything we can to settle these negotiations and minimise disruption for students and parents and we look forward to progressing talks with the PPTA next week,” she said.

Last week the PPTA and its primary school counterpart, the NZ Educational Institute (NZEI), agreed to join forces in seeking better pay and conditions for teachers if their wishes were not met.

Primary teachers are also in the midst of ongoing negotiations, having rejected a similar offer.