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Warwick Smith/Stuff
Trainee teacher Darius Siljee, left, PPTA staff member Rochelle Shadbolt, right, and 7-month-old daughter Isolde Siljee with a group of striking secondary school teachers in Palmerston North on Wednesday morning.
Secondary school teachers want better recognition for their work as many feel burnt out and disillusioned.
The secondary school teachers union, the Post Primary Teachers’ Association, is holding a week of strikes across the country to protest the latest pay offer from the Government. Already this term, different year groups have been rostered home on different days in minor strike action.
In Palmerston North, teachers went on strike on Wednesday and a group of Freyberg High School teachers gathered at the intersection of Ruahine St and Tremaine Ave, waving placards and garnering support from motorists.
Paul Emmerson is an engineering teacher at Freyberg High School, and he said there was a widespread feeling of being disillusioned among teachers.
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STUFF
Thomas Newton, chairperson of the PPTA Canterbury, speaks to Stuff about why teachers are taking industrial action, ahead of a strike held at the end of March.
“There’s the old cliché of we don’t go into education for the money, we go into it for the lifestyle and the fact we are providing a difference to young people.
“Some students, we are their stable rock, which is a bit sad to know about. It’s just really sad to see teachers getting burnt out.”
He wanted to see an improved Government pay offer to better recognise all the work teachers did.
“The main thing is the pay hasn’t risen in accordance with inflation. Basically our pay has been cut.
“We’re getting more and more hats being thrown at us as teachers. We’re counsellors, we’re parents, almost like zookeepers.
Warwick Smith/Stuff
A group of Freyberg High School teachers on strike on the corner of Tremaine Ave and Ruahine St in Palmerston North.
“We’re trying to support them in this multi-faceted role and provide good education for our students. Getting them back into school is a priority.”
He said it was hard to attract teachers for practical subjects such as technology where he worked, which led to students missing out.
Feilding High School teacher Graham Conlon is the co-chairman for Manawatū-Whanganui-Horowhenua for the Post Primary Teachers’ Association.
He said teachers were tired and frustrated, so had not organised any mass strike action. He said the union had been in negotiation with the Government since June and had only received one actual offer.
“We want people to be in our profession and stay. We want young teachers especially, but also those of us who have been around the park a few times, to feel valued and feel respected.
“We get that from the community. We just don’t seem to be getting that from the Government.”
Warwick Smith/Stuff
The secondary school teachers union, the Post Primary Teachers’ Association, is holding strikes across the country this week.
Union members will soon vote whether to accept the next offer and on what action to take next if it was rejected.
More strikes could be on the cards if the Government did not invest in the future of the profession, Conlon said.
He said the last offer had been below inflation and they wanted an offer to at least get near the rate of inflation.
“The numbers don’t stack up. We were looking at an offer significantly below. In real terms, teachers’ salaries go down. Everybody has a cost-of-living crisis.
“A number of teachers are saying we can’t get the same amount of money for a significantly larger workload.”
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