Strike Action
Recently we experienced the Unions instigating strike action that disrupts our lives in important areas like health and education.
As you know nurses and doctors strikes cause disruption on the day but they also cause thousands of patients to wait for another round of rebooking and then more waiting for the actual medical consultations and procedures. For the Health workforce it means they have to go through a major administrative exercise to rebook all the patients affected by medical staff being unavailable on the strike day.
Then subsequently we had the PPTA which is the secondary teachers’ union, doing the same thing but this time disrupting the learning process of our young people who are just gearing up for end of year assessments and exams under NCEA and Cambridge.
Some of these students are already disadvantaged because of the Covid lockdowns especially the extended ones in Auckland, and now their teachers’ union thinks its ok to down tools over their 3 per cent pay raise over three years offer.
Let’s not forget that teachers have received substantial pay increases of, on average, 14.5 per cent over the past three years. Plus an annual pay progression of between 4 and 7.5 per cent.
I take this opportunity to repeat our apologies for giving incorrect information about teachers’ salaries in a previous media announcement. An investigation of how this happened is under way.
Education Minister Hon Erica Stanford and I agree and have said that the PPTA union’s actions are disproportionate given that a fair offer has been made.
We consider that the PPTA union officials decided to get teachers to strike without a reasonable period of engagement or offering a constructive alternative as part of the negotiations.
Erica and I are part of a government that fully recognises the vital role that teachers play in shaping our young people academically and socially so that they can gain their useful NCEA or Cambridge qualifications. We all know young people need these qualifications if they are to become a significant part of a valued workforce in the future, which is what New Zealand needs.
This action of organising a strike by the PPTA was unduly disruptive to student learning, and it also placed significant pressure on parents and caregivers, who had to make alternative arrangements because their children are unable to attend school.
We simply wanted the PPTA to return to the bargaining table with a commitment to constructive dialogue and a realistic settlement – one that supports teachers, students, families and the integrity of our public education system.
