Primary Teacher Strikes Inevitable –NZ First

Bitter industrial action by primary teachers is inevitable, New Zealand First education spokesperson Brian Donnelly has warned.

“The seeds of these hostilities were sown by the Minister of Education in his gross mishandling of the secondary teachers’ collective contract during the last pay round.

“With an early election in 2002, Trevor Mallard simply rolled over, yielding to demands for guaranteed non-contact time and an additional step in the salary scale for secondary teachers.

“The Minister would have to be very naive if he could not see these additional conditions were going to be inevitably demanded by NZEI.

“What has exacerbated the situation is that kindergarten teachers are now to be paid the same as primary teachers but have guaranteed non-contact time just like secondary teachers.

“It is little wonder that primary teachers are bitter and are now demanding the same as kindergarten and secondary teachers.

“The problem for the Government is that such provisions will cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

“The teachers, the taxpayers and the students are all going to be losers out of this debacle,” said Mr Donnelly.

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