Pay increase for area school teachers

After a long period of negotiations, a pay settlement has been reached for the country’s area school teachers.

It involves teachers in more than 90 area schools which cater to students from Year 1 to 13.

These schools are often of special character or in rural and remote parts of the country.

The settlement of the Area School Teachers’ Collective Agreement comes after area school teachers introduced meeting bans in a bid to try and get the MoE to take their issues seriously.

It will deliver a 3 per cent pay increase on salary steps 7, 8 and 9; a 2.93 per cent increase on the top step 14; a 2.51 per cent increase on step 11 and a 1.71 per cent increase on step 12. All other steps get an increase of 2.75 per cent.

PPTA president Robin Duff said, “We hope the wait has been worth it and we present the settlement to members believing it is the best one we could achieve in this difficult bargaining environment.”

NZEI president Ian Leckie is also pleased.  “It will help with recruitment and retention issues which can often prove challenging for area schools,” he said.