Written by John Gerritsen of RNZ
The Public Service Commission has announced pay offers totaling $864 million over four years for school teachers.
These offers include $449.057m for primary teachers, $361.833m for secondary teachers, and $53.243m for area school teachers.
The value of the offers for primary and secondary teachers over four years is 75% higher than previous offers made in July. However, no offers have been made yet to primary or secondary principals.
Commissioner Sir Brian Roche recently informed primary school boards that the offer to primary teachers has reached its maximum limit.
“To achieve this, we stretched our fiscal mandate to its limits – meaning we have no room left to move further on pay,” he stated.
Ripeka Lessels, president of NZ Educational Institute Te Riu Roa, emphasized that the cost involved in offers and settlements may seem significant due to the large number of teachers in the profession.
“The key factor in a cost-of-living crisis is ensuring that pay at least keeps up with inflation and is adequate to attract new teachers to address the current 750-teacher shortfall in primary schools,” Lessels explained.
Despite the offer of a pay increase ranging from 1.43% to 2.52% in the first year and 1.3% to 2.1% in the second year, primary teachers have rejected the offer. They have not received a new offer yet and have been asked to negotiate within a 1% envelope.
Chris Abercrombie, president of the PPTA, mentioned that union members have been surveyed on potential industrial action in the fourth school term. However, any action would need to be approved through a formal ballot process. The union is hopeful that a settlement can be reached before resorting to any industrial action.
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