Possible Teachers Strike – Wednesday 31 May

Possible Teachers Strike – Wednesday 31 May

Kia ora koutou

NZEI Te Riu Roa (The Primary Teachers and Principals union) have been negotiating new collective agreements for both Teachers and Primary Principals for nearly a year. The recent strike in March by both Teachers and Primary Principals was the result of dissatisfaction with the offers in front of both groups. They did not adequately address concerns regarding pay or work conditions for either group.

Primary teachers recently rejected a second offer for the same reasons. Primary Principals are yet to receive a second offer. As a result of this, both groups had voted to take industrial action. However due to a process initiated by the Minister of Education with NZEI Te Riu Roa and the PPTA to progress collective agreement negotiations, any decision on moving forward with these industrial actions has been paused until 30 May by the NZEI Te Riu Roa National Executive.

This means, for now, there is no industrial action being undertaken by Teachers or Principals.

However, if satisfactory progress is not made, there is a notified strike day for teachers which will go ahead on Wednesday 31 May.

This strike action would result in the closure of Silverdale School for the day. We will only be notified if this strike action is going ahead on Sunday 28 May – meaning we will only be able to communicate the closure with you on Monday 29 May. Because of this tight time frame I wanted to ensure families were aware of the possibility and could organise contingencies.

If you would like to support Teachers and Principals by urging the government to support an offer which addresses pay and work conditions, please contact The Minister of Education, Jan Tinetti j.tinetti@ministers.govt.nz.

I acknowledge that it is deeply frustrating that I cannot bring you further news at this point.

The teacher only day planned for Friday 2 June will still take place even if there is a strike on Wednesday 31 May. We recognise that the timing will be highly unfortunate. This is a day of professional development that has been planned since the beginning of the year.

Thank you for your understanding and patience during this time.