Dunedin teachers are angry they have to picket after the government put forward a ‘‘silly’’ offer for their collective agreement.
A group of about 50 teachers gathered at the city's Museum Reserve this morning, chanting and holding signs and at 1pm held a rally in the Octagon.
National action over stalled collective agreement negotiations has forced many high schools to close.
The Post Primary Teachers' Association says the government's offer of a 1 percent pay rise every year for three years is the lowest in a generation.
Higher salaries were needed to attract and retain teachers, especially amid NCEA reforms, the union said.
PPTA Otago regional chairman Kussi Hurtado-Stuart said the offer put forward from the government was not acceptable.
‘‘I’m kind of grumpy about that, I’d rather be in the classroom.’’
Logan Park High School science teacher Nat Visger said teachers were angry.
There was a lot being asked of teachers with changes around NCEA and it felt like there was not lot of trust being put in them.
Equal pay being dropped was a letdown and felt like a ‘‘slap in the face,’’ she said.
‘‘I don't know if our students would know it because we put on a brave face but there's a lot of unrest in the class.’’
She was shocked at Judith Collins’ comments about teachers' pay and did not know anyone making more than $140,000.
Bayfield High School chemistry teachers Peter Spiers said he had been teaching for more than 40 years and it had become more difficult to sustain a lifestyle on a teachers salary.
The approach to negotiations from the government was just ‘‘silly’’ because the offer teachers were presented did not match inflation.
‘‘This nation needs education to be smoother,’’ he said.
More teachers were choosing to go to the overseas because there were better conditions.
'Frustration starting to kick in'
Public Service Minister Judith Collins has apologised and said she mixed up her messaging after earlier claiming high school teachers with 10 years' experience could earn $147,000.
One of the teachers baffled by Collins' initial claim was Kiwibank's Local Hero of the Year, maths educator Subash Chandar K, also known as Infinity Plus One.
Chandar believed Collins might have been referring to principals or associate principals with at least 10 years' experience.
One of his colleagues reviewed 1006 teaching jobs being advertised and found only two would have attracted a salary of more than $140,000, Chandar said.
It was frustrating to know that backbench MPs were on salaries of $163,000, he said.
He described days beginning at 8am and ending with department or staff meetings plus meetings with families.
"Our students are so much more diverse now in terms of their learning and we need to support these students and sometimes we need to meet with whanau to come up with plans for the best ways to support them."
As well, there was work to take home to mark and parent/teacher meetings at night.
On top of that, were school camps and extra curricular activities such as kapa haka.
Teachers were also adjusting to curriculum changes.
"Most teachers love being in the classroom ... but it's all these extra things that are added on that is actually devaluing what we're doing."
Extra things were being piled on to teachers but the pay was being kept at the same level.
"That's where the frustration is starting to kick in."
- Allied Media/RNZ
