Photo: RNZ / Alexander Robertson
The primary teachers' union wants to take stalled pay talks to urgent facilitated bargaining.
The Educational Institute Te Riu Roa says mediated bargaining last week failed to reach a settlement of the primary teachers' collective agreement.
Negotiator Liam Rutherford told RNZ the Education Ministry made an offer which was only slightly different from the offer the union's members rejected in December last year.
He said it fell well short of what members had told the union they wanted prior to mediation.
"I think it's fair to say that teachers didn't get the outcomes from that they went into it with and as a result, we've called for urgent facilitation from the Employment Relations Authority. We're really hoping that might be the circuit breaker to get the government to come to the table and for us to get this settled," he said.
The December offer would have provided a pay rise of 2.5 percent at the end of January and a further 2.1 percent a year later.
Secondary teachers accepted a similar deal last year.
The Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche warned earlier this week that primary teachers were missing out on increased pay and benefits because they had refused to settle.
Roche said since the end of January, primary teachers at the top of their pay scale were missing out on about $50 a week before tax they would have received had they settled last year.
He said the sums were even larger for the 60 percent of primary teachers who had management units for extra duties.
Under the December offer, a teacher at the top of the scale with one unit was missing out on around $63 (before tax) per week, and those with two units were missing out on around $76 (before tax) per week, Sir Brian said.
"Teachers know there are no lump sums or backpay available in this bargaining round.
"Every week without settlement is money teachers aren't receiving."
He said the commission engaged fully in three days of mediation with NZEI Te Riu Roa last week.
"I do not accept the characterisation that the latest offer is the same as the one considered in December. The package developed through mediation recognises the valuable work primary teachers do and maintains salary parity with their secondary colleagues," he said.
"The offer also includes an increase in the value of management units to $5250 per annum from the start of the 2027 school year, as well as a new $3 million Professional Learning and Development fund for relief teachers to help them implement the structured literacy and numeracy curriculum.
"I encourage NZEI to work with us to ensure their members have the opportunity to consider the latest offer, which responds to pay concerns while ensuring the package remains affordable and sustainable. All options to deliver on our objectives remain on the table. We are committed to achieving an outcome that removes uncertainty for teachers, students and parents and caregivers."
Rutherford said NZEI members understood what they had rejected.
"Teachers are well aware that if they had accepted the offer, they would be getting the pay increases on offer. But I think that more points to the strength of the issues that we're facing in the sector," he said.
Rutherford told RNZ the government's curriculum changes were a big factor in teachers' expectations of a better pay offer.
"What came through more strongly than we ever have is this absolute avalanche of curriculum change that people have found themselves in at the start of 2026," he said.
"I think it's been one of those areas where people have known that it's coming, but to be in 2026 and to look at not just the size, but the speed of the ambition of the Minister of Education to implement this, lots of people are feeling like they're drowning."
Rutherford said the union advised the Education Ministry on Tuesday that it wanted facilitated bargaining.
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