Kindergarten pay talks settled

The country’s kindergarten teachers have won continued pay parity through the successful negotiation of their collective employment agreement.

The proposed settlement of the Kindergarten Teachers, Head Teachers and Senior Teachers Collective Agreement follows five days of negotiations between the education sector union, NZEI and the MoE.

NZEI negotiating team leader Marion Dekker says the settlement maintains a unified pay scale and pay parity with primary teachers for a further two years.

“Kindergarten teachers fought long and hard for pay parity in 2002 and we are pleased by the ongoing commitment to it. It was the number one issue for us going into these negotiations,” she says.

NZEI also believes the settlement reinforces the importance of quality ECE by continuing to recognise the professional status of kindergarten teachers in the education sector.

The settlement is subject to ratification and will go out to NZEI members as soon as possible.