NZEI resorts to desperate measures due to union failure

Unions like NZEI are the cause, not the solution of teacher shortages, ACT Leader David Seymour.

“Desperate measures like writing off student loans and providing dedicated teacher housing would never be on the table if teacher unions’ had negotiated salaries in line with other sectors’.

“In recent decades teacher unions have been the problem, not the solution. In 1985, experienced teachers earned 1.93 times the average New Zealand salary, now it’s 1.37 times the average salary. That’s a 30 per cent pay cut against the average wage.

“ACT’s policy is simple: we’d give $1 billion to principals across the country for use on teacher salaries, both to attract new talent and to retain skilled and specialist educators.

“But because ACT would also allow principals to pay the best teachers more, schools would need to abandon the restrictive union contracts that have protected mediocrity and suppressed pay.

“The question for NZEI is whether they want to support students and good teachers, or whether they’ll settle for the status quo that puts stress on schools and harms kids’ learning.”

ENDS

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