Students to suffer after teachers reject 'good' offer: PM

 

John Key
John Key
Teachers rejected a good offer from the Government, and the only people to suffer will be students, Prime Minister John Key says.

Mr Key told a post-Cabinet press conference he was disappointed with the Post Primary Teachers Association's (PPTA) decision to resume strikes after the Ministry of Education's latest offer.

"We believe that the teachers have rejected an offer that, frankly, was a good offer and they should have accepted,'' Mr Key said.

The offer was above the level accepted by other large categories such as police, he said.

The PPTA had suspended last week's planned industrial action to discuss a new offer from the ministry, but today said that following the ministry's latest offer strike action would go ahead.

PPTA president Kate Gainsford said that after three days of negotiations there had been no substantial shift since the Government's initial offer in June.

Teachers were offered a half-percent pay increase in the first year, a 1.9 percent increase in the second year, a one-off payment of $1000 and an additional 3000 middle management allowances worth $1000 each

That was compared with an earlier offer of no increase in the first year, a 1.8 percent increase in the second, and the one-off payment.

The offer did not go far enough and fell flat with the PPTA national executive, Mrs Gainsford said earlier today.

Mr Key said the Government's tight financial situation made the offer more significant.

"The government's books are tight, we've made that clear all the way along.

"As you saw with the release of the Crown accounts last week there's not a lot of spare cash, and we're asking all New Zealanders to accept that the Government has less money to play with at the moment, and the offer we put on the table for teachers was a fair one.''

Mr Key said both students and teachers, who would be disrupted by the strikes, recognised the Government was putting a fair offer on the table.

He said anecdotal feedback, plus the fact that teachers were advertising in the mainstream media, showed that teachers did not think they had public support.

The strikes mean Year 9 students will be rostered home Wednesday, while Year 11 students, who were to be rostered home last week, will now be rostered off Thursday.

Further action is planned from next week through to early December.

 

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