Kindergarten teachers to vote on proposed settlement
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