Time to deliver a fair deal

It’s time for the government to recognise that school support staff are highly valued by their school communities and front up with a fair deal, says the education sector union NZEI.

Recently in a co-ordinated effort, more than a thousand school support staff marched and rallied outside the offices of dozens of government and coalition MPs as part of “Fair Deal Friday”.

Support staff work at the frontline of education and are historically low paid yet their pay negotiations are currently stuck with the government offering them a zero percent pay rise.

As part of Fair Deal Friday they presented an estimated 15,000 signatures from teachers, principals, parents and Boards of Trustee members for MPs to take back to the Beehive to show the government that school communities back their fight for fair pay.

NZEI national executive member Gaye Parlane says the show of support from the community was fantastic.

“We hope all the MPs will have taken a strong message back to Wellington this week that the government needs to respond to support staff by returning to the negotiating table with a fair offer – one which is certainly better than a zero increase,” she says.

“The minister of education Anne Tolley may think that a zero increase is a fair deal, as she told support staff in Whakatane, but it’s clear school communities disagree – they know we’re worth a lot more and the government needs to get on board with that.”

See the level of support for support staff and watch a video of a 300-strong march on the associate education minister Pita Sharples’ Papatoetoe electorate office on Fair Deal Friday at www.nzei.org.nz