Primary school teachers and principals have both rejected potential settlements. File photo. Photo: RNZ / Alexander Robertson
Primary school teachers belonging to the NZEI union have rejected the government's latest pay offer.
The decision followed last week's vote by primary school principals - belonging to the same union - to reject a potential settlement.
It stands in contrast to secondary schools, where teachers and principals have accepted similar deals.
The primary school teacher offer included a pay rise of 2.5 percent on 28 January and 2.1 percent a year later.
It also dropped a government claim for more "call-back days", requiring teachers to work outside of term time.
NZEI Te Riu Roa primary teacher negotiation team lead Liam Rutherford said teacher aides, administrative staff, librarians, kaiārahi i te reo, therapists, science technicians and other school staff had also rejected their respective government offers.
"The outcome reflects deep dissatisfaction among our teachers, who are demanding an offer that genuinely addresses cost-of-living pressures and upholds their professional claims," Rutherford said.
"The rejected offer is barely different from the unacceptable offer primary teachers also thumbed down in September," he said.
"It entirely omits any reference to upholding Te Tiriti in education - which is one of our core claims. The absence of this commitment, coupled with the substandard pay offer, tells teachers they are neither financially valued nor supported in their cultural obligations to learners. The sector is standing together for a fair settlement."
Rutherford said the government's offer was made on 11 December, when some schools had already closed for the year.
Rutherford told RNZ the union's members overwhelmingly rejected the offer.
He said the union would inform the Education Ministry today and would seek further negotiations in January if possible.
"We're really keen to get this settled. We want to see minimal disruption as we're heading into the new year," he said.
Rutherford said members' feedback showed they were worried about attracting and retaining people to primary school teaching.
He said some teachers were thinking about moving to Australia and many wanted more help with pupils who needed learning support.
"People have been talking about pay increases that don't take them backward and having adequate resourcing in the learning support space. Some people have been talking about that as a teacher aide in every class," he said.
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