Secondary school teachers striking again around the country

Secondary school teachers took to the streets today, less than two weeks after the last strike saw 50,000 teachers walk off the job.

Pay rises and improvements to work conditions were part of their demands.

The picketing came ahead of more serious action planned for term two, when teachers will reduce their labour to protest at the lack of progress in negotiations.

Post Primary Teachers Association acting president Chris Abercrombie told Morning Report teachers recognised the disruption strikes, caused but said negotiations had been ongoing for almost a year and the action was about "getting it sorted".

"We absolutely recognise the disruption that many schools are facing, but what's more disruptive is not having subject specialist teachers in front of them."

The offer currently on the table, which includes a $6000 lump sum payment to teachers over two years, equates to around a 10 percent increase for beginning teachers and around a 6 percent increase for those at the upper end of the pay scale, Abercrombie said.

"Teachers have not had a pay rise since July 2021 and things have got a lot more expensive," he added.

"If we want to recruit and retain teachers in this amazing job, we're going to have to pay them properly.

"Having an amazing job doesn't pay the mortgage."

Abercrombie said the union was asking for a CPI increase over the term of the collective agreement, "so any move in that area would be welcome".

Retaining teachers was important, he said, as was attracting those who had left the profession back to it.

"Pay and conditions are a significant part of that."

Teachers describe frustrations

In Tāmaki Makaurau, teachers picketed across the city.

Louise Ryan was one of dozens of educators striking outside Selwyn College. The teacher from One Tree Hill College said she has 33 senior students in one of her classes, seven more than the standard of 26.

"I'm striking because I love my job and I love my students and I want to be in this job for a really long time. To be able to do that I need the working conditions and the pay so that I will be able to afford to live in the city that I want to teach in and have the capacity to support all of my students."

Ryan said she was really feeling the workload.

"I'm trying to support 33 students in a subject where they need these credits in order to go to university. I also in almost all of my other classes average about 31 students, so there's a lot and I want them all to feel like I am on this journey with them."

Tim Gasson of McAuley High School has spent two decades as an educator, and felt disillusioned to be on the streets yet again and not in the classroom.

"I've been to I don't know how many of these events over the past 19 years and I see a similar pattern of retrenchment, but here's hoping."

Gasson said the increased workload took teachers away from students.

"It really impacts how much time we can give to the kids in the classroom."

He said someone in the profession for 19 years will become an increasing anomaly.

"They really have to hit the floor running in a way that when I started, we didn't have to run quite that fast. I'm not surprised that a lot of younger teachers give it two or three years and then just move off. It's no understatement that we're approaching a crisis point."

At the other end of the spectrum, Shelley Plowman at Onehunga High has just started her new vocation and was already struggling with the reality of low wages.

"I'm a reasonably new teacher. I switched careers so I'm in my third year now and I love my job. I've chosen it as a vocation but it's really hard - I've got no money left over at the end of my paycheck."

Plowman said she did not want to disrupt her kids again.

"If I have to go to the dentist or buy a new washing machine, it's going to be a struggle and stress and that shouldn't be the situation."

She said everyone protesting cares about their community and that's why they have chosen to do this job.

'Money's not going to ease workload issues'

Minister of Education Jan Tinetti told Morning Report good progress had been made in bargaining since the strike earlier this month, so it was disappointing to see teachers taking industrial action again so soon.

"More disruption is the last thing that anyone wants."

However she acknowledged teachers had been under a lot of pressure and said the ministry was "working really hard to see where we can ease that".

"It has been a really, really tough time for them, so it's about listening to them," she said.

"We know that they've got some big claims on the table, we know that we need to get things right for them but we can't get everything right in one bargaining round.

"It's a really tough economic environment, so we need to be strategic as well."

Tinetti said while teachers' calls for increased pay were part of the picture, their workload demands also needed to be addressed and nothing was off the table.

"We have to get that balance right, money's not going to ease workload issues," she said.

"I'm not saying that the money is not important, it absolutely is important, but we're also looking at how we can make the job more attractive in the workload area as well.

"To say that it's one, without the other, is disingenuous to those teachers."

Tinetti said she was looking forward to the parties getting back to the negotiating table.

Further industrial action is planned from the second week of term two.

Earlier this month, members of the PPTA and the Educational Institute (NZEI) held rallies across the country in the first ever strike involving kindergarten, primary and secondary school teachers together.