Primary school teachers and principals have both rejected potential settlements. File photo. Photo: RNZ / Alexander Robertson
Primary school teachers belonging to the NZEI union have rejected the government's latest pay offer.
The decision followed last week's vote by primary school principals - belonging to the same union - to reject a potential settlement.
It stands in contrast to secondary schools, where teachers and principals have accepted similar deals.
The primary school teacher offer included a pay rise of 2.5 percent on 28 January and 2.1 percent a year later.
It also dropped a government claim for more "call-back days", requiring teachers to work outside of term time.
NZEI Te Riu Roa primary teacher negotiation team lead Liam Rutherford said teacher aides, administrative staff, librarians, kaiārahi i te reo, therapists, science technicians and other school staff had also rejected their respective government offers.
"The outcome reflects deep dissatisfaction among our teachers, who are demanding an offer that genuinely addresses cost-of-living pressures and upholds their professional claims," Rutherford said.
"The rejected offer is barely different from the unacceptable offer primary teachers also thumbed down in September," he said.
"It entirely omits any reference to upholding Te Tiriti in education - which is one of our core claims. The absence of this commitment, coupled with the substandard pay offer, tells teachers they are neither financially valued nor supported in their cultural obligations to learners. The sector is standing together for a fair settlement."
Rutherford said the government's offer was made on 11 December, when some schools had already closed for the year.
Rutherford told RNZ the union's members overwhelmingly rejected the offer.
He said the union would inform the Education Ministry today and would seek further negotiations in January if possible.
"We're really keen to get this settled. We want to see minimal disruption as we're heading into the new year," he said.
Rutherford said members' feedback showed they were worried about attracting and retaining people to primary school teaching.
He said some teachers were thinking about moving to Australia and many wanted more help with pupils who needed learning support.
"People have been talking about pay increases that don't take them backward and having adequate resourcing in the learning support space. Some people have been talking about that as a teacher aide in every class," he said.
'Particularly disappointing'
The Public Service Commissioner said the primary teachers' vote to reject their pay offer was a missed opportunity to settle before the end of the year.
Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche said the offer was strong, fair and addressed calls from teachers and the union for recognition of the new curriculum implementation programme to lift educational achievement
Sir Brian said the offer was very good and was similar to the package accepted by secondary teachers.
"The rejection of the offer is particularly disappointing, after we had adjusted elements of the offer based on the union's preferences and representations. While we couldn't do everything, we felt that members would support this deal."
Responding to feedback from NZEI members, the claim for additional call back days was removed. In addition, the 60 percent of primary teachers who receive salary units were also offered a $700 increase on the value of each unit, Sir Brian said.
"I am disappointed this offer wasn't accepted by primary teachers, however, I am committed to good faith negotiations resuming in the new year to settle the collective agreement," he said.
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