Massive wins for Nursing Union and Teachers Union will benefit all New Zealanders
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.
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).
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.
Increasingly having independent opinion in a mainstream media environment which mostly echo one another has become more important than ever, so if you value having an independent voice – please donate here.
If you can’t contribute but want to help, please always feel free to share our blogs on social media
Yes they deserve it. Nurse s, Police, Fireman and some Teachers / baby sitters are special people.
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.
Yes, millsy bulk funding and performance pay = Act = move to Australia
“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!
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.
And how many strikes, threats & arm twisting was required to get the caring, union supported, workers party to give these workers what they deserved? What did Andrew Little repeatedly say to nurses? How many times were nurses & teachers just told to suck it up? With kindness intended?
They are now there regardless of you spinning it sideways. They never were under Nact, there was no compassion, that much is clear.
9000 nurses have left either the profession or the country since 2019 – that’s two years after the Labour government took office Bert. Amazing what 2 years of student politicians running the show can do.
That is an exaggeration. Plus half those nurses didnt belive in vaccinations. I dont want someone who denies a basic tenent of medical science treating me.
Yes, and thousands of Maori left for Aus under Key.
I am happy that you and your workers are getting something near your true value and the same for teachers. However you both had to fight hard for your win with strikes etc and Robinson has promised cuts in other areas so let us see what cost the compassion comes with .
My biggest beef with my party of choice was they feel short on looking after you nurses and teachers .Hope they have changed .We will see after Oct I hope
Nice to see a mature response Trevor, Bob would do well to take a leaf out of your book Trevor.
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.
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.
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.
AI has its place, but giving the tech companies an effective monopoly on curriculum development is a bad idea.
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 .
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!