Secondary teachers win 2.5 p.c. pay rise

Press, 22 June 1989, Page 1

Secondary teachers win 2.5 p.c. pay rise

By

JENNY LONG

Secondary school teachers have won pay increases of between 0.5 per cent and 2.5 per cent in their award which was settled yesterday.

The long-running award negotiations finished yesterday afternoon, after a 24-hour negotiating session between the teachers’ union (the Post-Prim-ary Teachers’ Association) and the State Services Commission. Teachers on the basic scale (up to $36,180) will get a $lO a week pay increase, taking effect from August 1. Teachers above the basic scale will get a $5 a week increase. Allowances will increase between 1 per cent and 4 per cent. The contentious issues of national standards and contracts for senior staff are not mentioned in the award. The teachers had been on

strike over these issues during the 4»/ 2 months the award was negotiated. The union insisted on the need for national standards, so that these would not vary from school to school.

The president of the P.P.T.A., Ms Ruth Chapman, said the national standards were not put into the award, because of the Government’s insistence that it would set them. The Minister of Education, Mr Lange, has said that the P.P.T.A. will later be involved, along with other groups, in a settling of the standards.

The union was opposed to the placing of principals on contract and outside the award, saying it would drive a wedge between them and their staff.

Ms Chapman said it was possible that the Government could still legislate for contracts, but it would be a very provocative

move. “We are confident that if the Government lets ‘Tomorrow’s. Schools’ run for a couple of years as is, it will see that accountability can still be achieved, along with co-operation.” One pleasing aspect of the award was the adoption of a standard and much speedier procedure in matters of teacher competence and discipline, Ms Chapman said. The priority rights scheme, under which teachers who had lost their jobs (mostly through falling rolls) had priority to other positions, has been weakened. The priority right now applies only to the school from which the job was lost and only for a specified time. A job-sharing provision and an extension of paid leave for participation in recognised Maori organisations are also included.