This meant freeing teachers to teach so every child receives the personal attention they need to learn and thrive. It meant freeing principals to focus on leading and it means ensuring we have enough teachers by attracting more people to teaching, by respecting them as professionals and paying them properly.
The organising mantra from the beginning was that members’ frustration and anger needed to be converted into collective action. That action was understood to include potential industrial action and building community support.
We needed to ensure the government understood that the crisis in teaching could only be solved through major investment. There was strong support for the key strategy of simplifying claims to just a few key issues: the crisis in education (teacher shortage); time and workload; pay and relativities; and career development.
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NZEI Te Riu Roa launched the It’s Time - Kua Tae Te Wā campaign at 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.
The campaign was about much more than the settlement of the primary and area school collective agreements, but the momentum and leverage of the CEA process was the prime driver of the timing and focal points of the campaign. The Campaign Members were clear during early consultation processes that making teaching an attractive and valued profession was the key goal of the campaign.
We needed to ensure the government understood that the crisis in teaching could only be solved through major investment. There was strong support for the key strategy of simplifying claims to just a few key issues: the crisis in education (teacher shortage); time and workload; pay and relativities; and career development.
The Collective Agreements for Primary and Area School Teachers and Principals we’re signed and ratified in August 2019. These agreements marked the following wins for NZEI Te Riu Roa members:
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 2017, NZEI Te Riu Roa lodged a pay equity claim on behalf of all teacher aides, providing evidence that their work is mostly done by women and that it was being undervalued as ‘women’s work’. In 2020 this claim was endorsed by the ministry.
The Pay Equity claim for Therapists in the education sector was raised by NZEI Te Riu Roa in November 2020.
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.