Kindergarten teachers celebrate bargaining breakthrough

Immediate release

16 December 2013

Kindergarten teachers celebrate bargaining breakthrough

NZEI Te Riu Roa and the Ministry of Education have reached a proposed settlement on a new kindergarten collective agreement that would see teachers retain parity with their primary colleagues and a new allowance for head teachers.

Last week’s sudden turnaround came after months of the ministry insisting that kindergarten teachers could have parity or the allowance, but not both.

NZEI President Judith Nowotarski said it was the commitment and engagement of almost 1500 kindergarten teachers that made the difference.

“We held a Green Day of Action across the country and rallied outside the Minister’s office last Friday. I think the Government could see that teachers were 100 per cent supportive of our bargaining position and were not willing to back down on this.

“Head teachers earn just a fraction more than other teachers, despite the increasing demands of the role. We have been asking for 10 years for head teachers to receive a small additional allowance, and teachers were not willing to back down on this again. Teachers were certainly not prepared to surrender the primary teacher parity that they fought so hard to gain.”

ENDS

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