Primary school principals also reject offer

Primary and area-school principals have joined their teaching colleagues by voting against accepting the Ministry of Education’s latest employment offer.

The ballot closed on Sunday night after three days of union meetings for NZEI Te Riu Roa principal members last week and follows primary and area school teachers also rejecting the offers.

Lynda Stuart, the principal of May Road School in Auckland where the results were announced via livestream, said her colleagues felt ‘‘insulted, undervalued and disappointed’’ by the offer. ‘‘Our members have indicated very clearly that they are prepared to take action if the Government is not willing to act,’’ she said.

Stuart, who has led the bargaining team on behalf of primary principals, said it was not a decision made lightly, but it was ‘‘too important for us not to act’’.

She said principals had been ‘‘running on close to empty’’ and that was before the pandemic, with a high percentage now working 60-hour-plus weeks ‘‘just to get the job done’’.

Principals were sending strong signals to the Government, and it was significant that strike action was being considered as this was the last thing anyone wanted, Stuart said.

NZEI Te Riu Roa president Liam Rutherford said the latest offer ‘‘did little to fix any of the unresolved issues’’ regarding work demands and allowing them the time to be education leaders.

Members had expressed feeling frustrated that ‘‘the Government does not seem to be listening or taking these issues seriously’’.

He said principals were on the ‘‘front line of the pandemic’’, which added to stress that had built up because of underinvestment in education.

‘‘That’s why they think that the time is right for the Government to take action now.’’

It comes as meetings for more than 20,000 secondary teachers represented by the Post Primary Teachers Association Te Wehengarua union began this week.

Members were being called to endorse the executive’s decision to reject the offer for their own collective agreement, calling for a cost-of-living-adjusted pay rise, more guidance counselling staff, and workload controls.

Meetings for those in the wider Wellington region began in Porirua yesterday, with another in Christchurch. Meetings would follow in the Hutt Valley today and Masterton on Friday.