Not Too Late to Call Off PPTA Strike

"It is not too late for the PPTA to call off this week's strike action planned by the secondary teachers," Education Minister Wyatt Creech said today.

"The Ministry of Education negotiators want to get down to serious talking to work towards settling the secondary teachers' contract.

"So far only 14 days of negotiations have been held. Strikes won't achieve a thing, talking will.

"As a parent and as Minister of Education I urge the PPTA executive to pull back from Thursday's unwarranted strike action, set aside the extraneous issues and return to constructive talks on normal employment contract matters - teachers pay and conditions."

The PPTA has said that its executive would decided tomorrow (Monday 30 March) whether to go ahead with strikes this week.

"Students should not be losing their education for a day when it is completely unjustified."

Mr Creech said the Ministry of Education had set out a simple process for dealing with the pay claim where issues about pay were dealt with in pay negotiations and the other non-pay issues that the PPTA wanted to negotiate would be dealt with in separate consultation fora.

"The Treaty of Waitangi is the foundation document of New Zealand. It belongs in many areas of our lives but it is not a pay talks issue. The status of teacher training colleges and the overall level of resources provided to schools are Government policy decisions. They are worked out in the annual Budget - not employment contract negotiations.

"The Government's position is completely reasonable. All we are saying is we'll talk about pay in pay talks, and about other issues which are Government policy decisions in consultative fora.

"There is nothing unusual about this approach."

Mr Creech said the negotiations had not even got down to the nitty gritty that pay talks normally do.

?I an particularly concerned at the misleading information ensuing from the PPTA leadership on what has occurred to date. Both parents and their own teacher members at the grassroots level are being led up the garden path by PPTA leadership claims.

"The only thing the strike will do is undermine the education of tens of thousands of young New Zealanders.

?The strike will not to change the Government's position.

"If the PPTA was to be realistic they would call the strike off and return to the negotiating table so progress can be made and the contract settled."