Teachers angry at pay delay

Teachers are angry they will have to wait until September for a pay deal they accepted in June.

Both primary and secondary teachers’ unions have announced legal action over the delay.

Teachers found out on Tuesday they won’t receive pay increases and back pay until September 11, while the $1500 lump sum for union members will be paid on July 31. NZ Educational Institute national secretary Paul Goulter said the delay was ‘‘entirely unacceptable’’.

‘‘The ministry didn’t have trouble quickly docking teachers’ pay when they took strike action, so it’s a bit rich for them to now say it’ll take this long to make changes to teachers’ pay,’’ he said. ‘‘Teachers are really unhappy with this delay and it’s tainted any trust and goodwill that the ministry might have gained with the settlement.’’

Post-Primary Teachers’ Association president Jack Boyle echoed that. ‘‘We have instructed our lawyers to file proceedings seeking urgent compliance orders for payment and, if necessary, penalties for late payment.’’

Teachers on social media have also raised concerns about the amount of tax they will have to pay when they receive back pay in September.

Education Minister Chris Hipkins said the Ministry of Education and Education Payroll Ltd had ‘‘canvassed options to speed up the process’’.

‘‘I have, however, been advised there are no quick solutions even if we increase resources, due to the complexity of the payroll and the agreements.

‘‘I’m calling on the unions, principals and the School Trustees Association to work with the ministry to simplify the system to make sure that new collective agreements can be put into place faster.’’

On Tuesday night, Hipkins tweeted, saying the delay was ‘‘just not good enough’’.

‘‘It’s the first time anyone has told me it could take this long and I’m not happy about it.’’

Arlene White, chief executive of Education Payroll, said the delay was a result of the unprecedented complexity of the task.

She said while the collective agreements covered 51,000 teachers, there were 139,193 individual jobs requiring payment adjustment.

‘‘The current payroll system doesn’t have the facility to easily make the complex adjustments required, so we’re having to design, write and extensively test new code,’’ White said.

National MP Nikki Kaye said that given negotiations had been ongoing for over a year, ‘‘the ministry and Education Payroll had a long time to prepare for this’’.

The new pay offer gives secondary teachers a 3 per cent pay rise for three years and grants primary teachers pay parity with their secondary colleagues, meaning current primary teachers’ base salary will increase by at least 18.5 per cent by July 2021.

The deal added $271 million to the $1.2 billion over four years previously offered.

‘‘There are no quick solutions.’’

Education Minister Chris Hipkins