PPTA REVERTS TO INDUSTRIAL ACTION AT FIRST CHANCE

The Government is adopting standard practice with its approach of dealing with employment contract matters alone in the pay talks with the secondary teachers' union, Education Minister Wyatt Creech said today.

"The public will be disappointed that the secondary teachers union plans to block students' education for a day without seriously trying to get an agreement.

"The PPTA has tabled a huge claim that not only proposes very large pay rises; it also covers a whole range of issues that do not normally fall within the domain of employment contract negotiations.

"The Government's approach to the contract negotiations is the only constructive way to respond to an unusual and wide ranging claim," Mr Creech said.

"We will not ignore the issues raised in the claim. However they should be addressed outside of the contract negotiations. Bringing constitutional and policy issues into employment contract talks mixes them into the wrong process.

"The Ministry of Education negotiators are still to receive a response to the Government proposal, and yet the PPTA President has gone out publicly and rejected it, informing teachers to prepare for strike action over it.

"Industrial action is completely unnecessary over what is essentially a process issue. It is unfair on students and the school community and totally unwarranted."

Mr Creech said he was not surprised by the PPTA's threats of strikes so early on in the piece.

"Industrial action was always on the cards regardless of what the Government did. The PPTA sent that message to the Government loud and clear last year when they asked members to approve two days of industrial action in the first term of the year. They did this before negotiations even started, threatening the 'worst year for industrial action since Tomorrow's Schools' started.

"Strike threats made by the PPTA at the end of last year have done little to convince the Government that the PPTA is serious about negotiating a settlement. The Government is willing to negotiate in good faith but we won't negotiate matters which are not part of the employment contract.

"I am extremely concerned that the PPTA is so willing to revert to industrial action so early on in the piece. It makes me question just how serious the union is about settling their contract," Mr Creech concluded.