2 April 2009 Media Statement

Tolley all talk on making Early Childhood a priority

Education Minister Anne Tolley has failed to stack up her claims in Parliament that early childhood education (ECE) is a high priority for her Government, Labour Associate Education (ECE) spokesperson Sue Moroney said today.

"The Minister clearly has no firm plans or timeframes in place to get pay negotiations underway for Kindergarten staff, or for honouring National's election pledge to increase funding to playcentres," Sue Moroney said.

The Kindergarten Employment Agreement expired on February 28 and the Ministry of Education has been ready to begin negotiations but has yet to receive a mandate to bargain from the Minister.

"The Minister said the last negotiations took seven weeks for an offer to be made to Kindergarten staff last time. However, under her watch negotiations were initiated by NZEI more than three months ago, but she has prevented the Ministry from even starting negotiations, let alone concluding them," Sue Moroney said.

"She failed to mention the earlier negotiations resulted in an 8 per cent wage increase for kindergarten teachers under a Labour Government. I look forward to seeing such a successful outcome for kindergarten teachers in the very near future.

The Minister seems in no hurry to address these issues and had no firm dates set to progress them.

The ECE sector needs to see some decisions and action from this new Government so that the momentum established by Labour is not lost.

ENDS

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