16 July 2019

NZEI Te Riu Roa's kindergarten teacher members will vote on a proposed settlement to their collective agreement after four days of negotiations with the Ministry of Education and kindergarten employers.

Lead negotiator Virginia Oakly says that the negotiation team worked hard to press their claims, and it's now up to members to decide whether to accept the offer.

"The proposed settlement certainly doesn't address all our claims, particularly around workload, expertise allowances and better career pathways. However, it does include parity with the compulsory sector and the pay increases that primary teachers fought very long and hard for. It will be up to members to decide whether that is enough to settle for, or if they want to fight on," she said.

The proposed settlement includes:
• Pay parity with primary and secondary school teachers, delivering the same pay increases and unified pay scale primary teachers accepted in their settlement
• An increase to head teacher and senior teacher pay, including incorporating the head teacher allowance into the pay rate
• A one-off payment of $1500 (pro-rated for part-timers) for teachers who were NZEI Te Riu Roa members on 12 July 2019
• A commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi
• Refreshment and lunch breaks to reflect the updated legislation
• You can read the full proposed settlement here.
Members will vote on whether to ratify the proposed settlement in an online ballot. The ballot closes at 5pm on Thursday 25 July. The outcome of the ballot will be announced the following day.
ENDS

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