Planned strike action today by more than 50 Dunedin Community Childcare Association (DCCA) employees was called off last night.
DCCA president Dave Hanan said the two sides would meet again tomorrow to continue negotiations.
The association had been in talks with the NZEI Te Riu Roa. The union had signalled more than 50 employees of the DCCA were striking over the association's decision to withdrawal from the national early childhood education collective agreement.
Mr Hanan said he was optimistic of a resolution tomorrow. NZEI Te Riu Roa had intended to strike for 24 hours from 7.30am today unless the association reversed its intention to withdraw from the national early childhood education collective agreement.
They were upset when they learned late last year the association planned to withdraw
from the collective it had been a party to since 2003, union field officer Lee Rowe said.
Mr Hanan said the sticking point remained the issue of pay parity. He said each side had a clear understanding of the other side's views, after yesterday's talks which lasted more than five hours.
The dispute revolved around the Government funding pay parity, he said, and this had still to be resolved. The association runs several child care centres in Dunedin and the Koputai centre in Port Chalmers, as well as a homebased early childhood education service.
About 400 Dunedin children would have been affected if the teachers went on strike. Mr Rowe said the union had agreed to defer the strike action but union members remained totally committed to being a party to a collective agreement.
She declined to say whether strike action would be considered again, but said it was important to continue with dialogue.
- Education Minister Chris Carter has announced grants totalling $485,000 to 13 early childhood education services. Seven centres would expand to include five or more children as a result of the additional funding, he said.
There were no recipients from Otago. Centres could receive grants of up to $30,000 each, with $1.2 million available in the 2007-08 financial year under the scheme
