NZEI Te Riu Roa launched our Kua Tae Te Wā | It’s Time campaign at our Annual Conference in October 2017 as teachers and principals in primary and area schools began to think about the negotiation of their collective agreements expiring in 2018.
Kua Tae Te Wā involved eighteen months of tireless campaigning by members and a long period of deadlock. Primary teachers voted to accept their settlement in June 2019. Principals rejected an offer made to them at the same time. A principal focussed campaign continued on until an offer was accepted by members. The settlement of the area principals’ collective agreement took place in August 2019.
Members were clear during claims development processes that making teaching an attractive and valued profession was the key goal of the campaign.
Teachers and principals consistently raised high workloads, lack of support for students with additional learning and behavioural needs as well as undervaluing of the profession as key issues that had been exacerbated by nine years of a National Government. There was a crisis in recruitment and retention of teachers and principals.
Eventually, there was an acknowledged teacher shortage particularly in Auckland that had arisen because of demographic pressure and the lack of workforce planning.
The campaign built a confident, new activist base in the union membership additional to the traditional leadership structures. Membership of NZEI Te Riu Roa increased by 10% during the campaign.
The Collective Agreements for Primary and Area School Teachers and Principals were signed and ratified in August 2019. While some issues remained, the following wins were represented in these agreements:
Check out more of the progress that NZEI Te Riu Roa members have achieved together.
School Administrators are a central part of the operation of our schools and for too long this female dominated position has been undervalued by the Ministry of Education. This claim seeks to rectify this undervaluation and get admin staff they pay and recognition they deserve.
The pay equity process was the first proposed pay equity settlement for a Māori workforce in New Zealand history and included an average pay increase of 79%. The settlement also included a commitment to improving professional learning and development, a new parental allowance, an overtime allowance, better rules for progression and an updated work matrix to determine grading.
The success of any group always relies heavily on the strength of the leadership. Our primary principals are taking on that crucial role in our schools, ensuring that staff, students and parents all get what they need from the school
In September 2016, NZEI Te Riu Roa lodged a pay equity claim on behalf of all teacher aides. In 2019 a settlement was reached and teacher aides received pay increases and other benefits. As part of the terms of settlement, there must regular reviews to make sure that pay equity is maintained. This review is currently underway and will be complete by the end of 2024 in time to inform the bargaining of the Support Staff in Schools’ Collective Agreement.
The 'arguability' of the pay equity claim came down to three key points. 1) The consistently female-dominated workforce. 2) The characterisation of therapists’ work as women’s work. 3) Occupational segregation and the feminisation of therapists’ work.
Ministry of Education Support Workers were the first education sector group to achieve a pay equity settlement, setting the precedent to allow all subsequent claims to be possible.