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Secondary teachers to vote on campaign action E-mail

August 4, 2010   
We stand for education graphic
Secondary teachers throughout the country will be attending Paid Union Meetings (PUMs) on August 24 and 25 to decide the next step in PPTA’s collective agreement campaign.

Negotiations broke down last week after members overwhelmingly rejected the Ministry of Education’s unacceptable offer, PPTA president Kate Gainsford said.

“The ministry continues to undervalue teachers and shows little indication it wishes to achieve a ratifiable settlement,” she said.

Members will be asked to consider a range of options, including industrial action, Gainsford said.

“We are at a critical stage in our campaign to protect public education and get a fair and reasonable deal for teachers and students.”


An improved offer would need to address PPTA’s claims to ensure safer school learning environments and better learning conditions for students, remove of all attacks on current provisions and offer a salary that valued the vital work of secondary teachers and supported recruitment and retention.

“It is bitterly disappointing that, after many hours of bargaining, the ministry still does not understand these issues,” Gainsford said.

“It’s all very well to say ‘come back to the bargaining table’ but unless a more constructive approach is used and a much better offer presented it will just be a matter of going through the motions, and we’ve been through them.”

By August 30 PPTA will know the course of action members have decided and a further announcement will be made then.

 

Contact: PPTA President Kate Gainsford (04) 913 4227 or 021 822 001.

Paid Union Meeting dates and venues

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Mark said:

If Only NZ was as rich as the average OECD country
Saw the newspaper ad stating that NZ teachers are paid 17% lower than the OECD average.

The average nett national income per capita in NZ is 27% lower than the OECD average.

Based on the logic progressed by the newspaper ad, NZ teachers are actually over paid compared to other New Zealanders.

The problem is, New Zealand is less successful than the average OECD country so any comparison with the average is not helpful.

Unless you are advocating other NZ wage and salary groups reduce their income levels, (which are 27% less than the OECD average), to increase teachers pay, (who are only paid 17% less than the OECD average and thus better off than the average NZ wage & salary earner by comparison), then NZ teachers wages should sit between those of Slovenia and the Czech republic.

Just a thought but not the one you wanted
 
August 23, 2010
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