Massive wins for Nursing Union and Teachers Union will benefit all New Zealanders

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Nurses set to receive thousands of dollars after pay equity agreement signed

Hospital nurses will receive tens of thousands of dollars in payouts with a pay equity agreement being signed off.

They will be given lump sums and backpay worth up to $28,000 to bring wages in line with male-dominated fields.

Teacher pay rise: Education Minister Jan Tinetti on Government response to secondary school proposal of 14.5 per cent increase

The Government has agreed to fund a $4.4 billion package to settle teachers’ and principals’ agreements.

It comes after an arbitration panel recommended secondary teachers get a 14.5 per cent pay rise spread over three instalments.

Education Minister Jan Tinetti announced today the Government had accepted the recommendation and had offered to increase secondary teachers’ base salaries by 14.5 per cent by December 2024 – close to $700 million more than had been budgeted.

These are necessary pay rises and it stops Teachers losing any more support from frustrated parents (nurses will never lose support because they aren’t seen as glorified babysitters).

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This is just basic pay rise increases, this isn’t anything genuinely transformative in Education or Health and by settling before the election, Labour cements into place those votes with substantial back pays looming for most teachers and nurses.

Truly transformative policy like 4 day weeks, free education training in return for bonding, accomodation for teachers and nurses, a teachers aid in every classroom, more hospitals and better nurse patient ratios aren’t included in any of this, just basic pay rises.

To do those things we need a Left wing Government with the courage to tax the rich, currently we don’t have that.

Round of applause for the Unions, they have represented their members well, now we need a Government prepared to make the actual investment to make Education and Health transformative.

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36 COMMENTS

  1. Yes well done, the missing link indeed is fairer taxation to pay for more in health & education.

    How many of these workers will now vote Natzo/Act I wonder?

    Natzo/Act would not have made these increases and have signalled claw backs and Union busting ahead.

    • Im picking National/ACT will try and impose bulk funding for schools. It will probably lead to more workload for teachers and schools, but I dont think anyone will care.

      • Some teachers will care if subjected to bulk funding–it is union busting and an attack on rates and conditions via “performance pay” etc.

        The teachers were one public union sector that did stand up to National during the Key years on Charter Schools, National Standards and Bulk Funding.

  2. “Truly transformative policy like 4 day weeks, free education training in return for bonding, accomodation for teachers and nurses,..” . Yes, yes and yes, basic as.

    Like trades, because both jobs a very hands on practical, learn on the job training with appropriate theory classes AND get paid. Imagine that as a career option rather than law, social work or web design! No deeply unnecessary university type courses that cost a fortune. And for anyone whose learnt a trade, guess what, it works! For nursing and teaching, its worked in the past.

    But for Labour Green being stacked with people who have zero real world experience outside of Wellingtons political bubble, unions or academia, this solution was an unknown forgotten foreign language!

    Such a waste!

    • Te Waaka this has been going on for months both teachers and nurses . Although in spite of these generous pay increases and the national government’s years of nil pay rises I wonder how many of these public servants will vote NACT and bite the hands that feed them

      • Yes, agree with ya Queeny and Act want to get rid of fair pay agreements so if this lot are stupid enough to vote for National or Act, they deserve everything they get. And Winstone is running around saying he has big Maori support bullshit!

  3. This a compassionate government willing to support their employees appropriately. Gone are the days of the Jonathon Colemans of the world that told the DHB’s to do more with less( 9 years no increases) unless of course anyone who wants to return to those days come October. I know the idiot Kraut does as well as fracking, cracking, drilling and destroying our country.

  4. Martyn – True…BUT, the Government was forced to do the right thing…this is not from the goodness of their hearts…never forget this, because Nurses and Teachers will not.

  5. There are systemic issues in health and education which isnt going to be fixed with a simple payrise for teachers and nurses. Teacher and nurse workload, class size and patient ratios need to be sorted.

    For a start, the Tomorrow’s Schools reforms have greatly put pressure on schools to do tasks that previously were done by education boards/Department of Education.

    When you get rid of administrators, all it does is leads to nurses and teachers filling out forms.

  6. This is like a scorched earth policy. Will doleys and solo mum’s be next. They’ll need their next 6 years pay increases before the election or they’ll be waiting 6 years.

  7. Tying to gain insight last week, I was speaking with a law student about the state of NZ’s education system, especially regarding stem subjects..

    ..I hesitantly quizzed her, asking:
    Q: What is 7*7 ? (49)
    A: Blushed, giggled, blank stare

    Q: What is 8*3 ? (24)
    A: “I’m not sure, (laughed) I’m not good at maths”

    It’s all well and good giving teachers a pay rise, though I question the lack of the proverbial stick!

    This is particularly true in light of ChatGPT, which enables users to complete hours of work in minutes, if not seconds. A well written prompt for example WOULD produce excellent lesson-plans for teachers and if nothing else it gives great boiler-plate.

    IMO, if teachers aren’t using AI, the taxpaying shouldn’t be funding them.

  8. These people are ungreatful and will dump the current government now they have got 40% pay increases in .the last 5 years They have forgoten nats gave them nothing for nine years and they were on close to minimum wages .Now they are on par with AUS but will want more next week .All these billions wil not create 1 single extra nurse to liten the load .

  9. Yes, agree with ya Queeny and Act want to get rid of fair pay agreements so if this lot are stupid enough to vote for National or Act, they deserve everything they get. And Winstone is running around saying he has big Maori support bullshit!

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