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Hundreds of Otago secondary school teachers are deciding whether to decline the government's latest pay offer this week.
The New Zealand Post Primary Teachers' Association hosted a paid union meeting for members to discuss the new collective employment agreement at Otago Girls' High School from 2pm on Monday.
A meeting was held in Queenstown on Monday and another has been lined up for Cromwell on Tuesday.
The union's executive want to reject the government's offer but need their members sign off first.
Otago regional chairperson Amanda Ellwood said they wanted a cost of living-adjusted pay increase and they did not get it.
"This low ball offer is wasting our time, it's disruptive for the learning of the students, and it's not how you should be treating your public sector workers."
There were about 40 different parts of the union's claim and many of them were not addressed or not enough progress was made in the agreement, she said.
"They've given us about a third of what we've asked for in terms of pastoral care, and for us in Dunedin schools, that's not even one person per school to support students with their guidance needs."
A lot of teachers across the motu (country) were struggling with getting home and car loans while also paying off their student debt, she said.
"So there's a lot of debt out there or potential debt and essentially at this stage, if you are a teacher and you're wanting to own a home, that's kind of out of the picture."
The Logan Park High School maths teacher said they would also discuss future steps at the meeting, but striking was a last resort as they didn't want to disrupt students and their families.