Education Ministry accused of ‘corrupt’ video in pay claim
The Ministry of Education is being slammed for “corrupt” use of taxpayers’ money for a video trying to persuade primary teachers to accept the ministry’s latest pay offer.
A video released on the ministry’s Facebook page on Thursday says a teacher named “Jessie”, who is on the top of the current pay scale, will get an $11,101 pay rise from $71,891 to $82,992 by November 2020 under the ministry’s latest pay offer.
The video has inflamed many teachers, who are calling it “a breach of good faith” as teachers are about to begin a week-long electronic vote on whether to accept the pay offer.
Rachel Evans, principal of a small rural Auckland school, commented that the video “doesn’t seem appropriate in the middle of good-faith bargaining”.
“Disappointing. Appalling. Dishonest,” she wrote.
Alice Robinson, a Wellington advocate for children with learning differences, called for the resignations of ministry head Iona Holsted and deputy head Katrina Casey if they had approved the video.
“This is incredibly corrupt behaviour when you are in the middle of negotiating a collective agreement,” she said.
NZ Educational Institute (NZEI) president Lynda Stuart declined to comment but said she could not recall the ministry producing videos aimed at persuading teachers to accept pay offers before.
NZEI members have gone on strike twice, in August and again this month, in support of claims including a 16 per cent pay rise over two years, reducing class sizes, doubling class release time from one hour a week to two, and funding learning support coordinators at all schools.
The institute produced its own video last Monday noting that the ministry’s latest offer includes pay increases of 3 per cent a year for three years plus higher maximum pay rates, and funding 600 learning support co-ordinators by 2020, but that it has made no offer so far on class sizes or class release time.
An electronic ballot on whether to accept the offer begins tomorrow and ends on December 4.
Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA) members voted last week to reject a similar pay offer, and the two unions are considering joint strikes in the first term next year.
Teachers commenting on Facebook have not disputed the ministry’s claim that its latest offer would give “Jessie”, a teacher on the top of the pay scale for a teacher with just a degree, a raise of $11,101 or 15.4 per cent by November 2020. But they have said the video is unbalanced because it doesn’t mention that the ministry hasn’t offered anything on class sizes or class release time.