Not sure how many other parents there are here, but this has been ongoing for some months now with no end in sight. I actually wish there was more media coverage to raise awareness of the plight of our teachers.
Yes, it’s frustrating to have our kids home while we’re trying to work etc, and I worry about impact on their schooling (especially when ‘normality’ was starting to return post-COVID lockdowns) but I feel strongly that these teachers are absolutely getting the short end of the stick in the pay negotiations. Keep supporting them where you can, talk to your kids about the whys of what’s going on and cross everything for a positive resolution soon!
My 2c anyway :-)
Summary: The Ministry isn’t accepting reasonable terms so the teachers are striking. Imagine going to your boss, asking for your next pay rise to match inflation, and they say “no”. You’ve effectively got a pay cut. Plus your job is getting harder year on year.
It seems this way but strikes only happen when the collective contract comes up for renewal, which is once every three years
When the three years is up the PPTA and Ministry negotiate a new contract. They usually start negotiations long before the contract is going to be renewed. So when the Ministry and PPTA can’t agree, the contract ends up lapsing and PPTA has to pull their trump card: teacher strikes.
Far from the truth. PPTA has clear goals, some of those goals are kept in negotiation and aren’t made public. Sometimes the details are boring. Do you want to read the last contract? Here you go:
https://www.ppta.org.nz/collective-agreements/secondary-teachers-collective-agreement-stca/document/856
Because the Ministry won’t agree to those terms. Tying teacher salary to inflation would be a great goal, but the Ministry won’t accept it. NB: The current proposition from PPTA is for teachers to get a pay bump to match inflation and the Ministry won’t accept.