Government stalling on key negotiations

Kindergarten teachers and school support staff are putting the government on notice to get negotiations of their collective employment agreements under way.

Negotiations of both the kindergarten teacher and support staff claims were scheduled to start in February and the agreements have now expired.

The union NZEI Te Riu Roa lodged the claims last year but has repeatedly been told that the government has not yet given a mandate to the MoE to get negotiations started.

The claims are the first major public sector agreements to be bargained under the new National government.

“This is a major test of this government’s commitment to respond to workers’ issues through collective bargaining and these delays are extremely frustrating for the thousands of NZEI members covered by these agreements,” says NZEI national secretary Paul Goulter.

For kindergarten teachers the negotiations will test the government’s commitment to recognising the value of ECE.

For school support staff they represent an opportunity to address long-standing issues of low pay.

They work at the frontline of education, supporting teaching and learning, yet some earn as little as $12.94 an hour – only marginally more than the new minimum wage of $12.50, which came into effect on 1st April this year. Most support staff also got nothing out of the tax cuts because they’re not in a high enough wage bracket.

Mr Goulter says “in the face of the economic downturn the government is pushing the wage freeze and pay restraint message hard, but the reality is that support staff pay rates do not recognise the skills and value they bring to schools and communities. All they want is a fair deal, not to be treated with disregard.”

NZEI is exploring legal action over how these ongoing delays line up with the government’s obligation to the provisions of good faith bargaining.

It also wants to ensure that any new agreement reached is effective from the date on which the previous agreement expired so its members are not disadvantaged by delays caused by the government.