Teaching specialists go on strike

Hundreds of learning support specialists will strike today, placing more pressure on the Ministry of Education to meet the sector’s demands for better pay and lighter workloads.

About 850 psychologists, speech language therapists, and other special education specialists represented by the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) will rally in 18 towns and cities after rejecting the ministry’s pay offer.

NZEI has called the offer of a 2 per cent pay rise upon settlement, and another 2 per cent in March, ‘‘insulting’’.

Ministry deputy secretary Zoe Griffiths acknowledged some of those staff have ‘‘high workloads at the moment’’. She said the ministry was ‘‘actively working to fill vacancies in areas where there is high demand’’, recruiting about 100 extra specialists for high needs children.

NZEI said the Government should ensure specialist staff were available to the growing number of children who needed them. ‘‘There aren’t enough specialists for the children who need the support, and those of us in the job are pushed to our limits with extreme workloads,’’ Byron Sanders, an NZEI negotiator for the specialists, said.

‘‘We need more front-line specialists so all children get the support they need without delay, and we have to ensure specialist staff are paid enough to both recruit and retain their skills for our children.’’ Sanders said the specialists’ vote to strike was ‘‘a clear indication of the anger’’ felt by the sector.

Yesterday, NZEI entered its third week of negotiations with the ministry over the collective contracts covering state primary school teachers and principals.

Almost 30,000 teachers went on strike for a day last week, their first industrial action since 1994.

Further strikes escalating to two days in length are possible if the stalemate cannot be resolved, although NZEI members would have to vote to do so.

The union is yet to decide whether it will hold a ballot on striking again.

Further contract negotiations are expected on Thursday.

Louise Green, the principals’ lead negotiator, said the lack of a new offer since June had ‘‘taken its toll on the morale of the negotiating teams’’.

Who is on strike?

Learning support specialists employed by the Ministry of Education and represented by NZEI will strike. The strike does not include ministry-employed support workers in early childhood centres.