More than 700 learning support specialist members of NZEI Te Riu Roa launched a legal challenge in the Employment Court today against pay deductions made by the Ministry of Education during their industrial action last year.
The Ministry slashed a tenth of the wages of field staff and service managers after they continued to work their contracted hours but refused to work unpaid overtime or take on new cases during a month-long partial strike last year.
These specialists – including speech and language therapists, psychologists, physiotherapists, learning support advisors, and kaitakawaenga – are tasked with helping the country's most vulnerable children.
"It was an unfair overreach for the Ministry to dock 10 percent of our pay when we were fulfilling our full contracted hours and refusing unpaid overtime," said Conor Fraser, a speech and language therapist and NZEI Te Riu Roa national member leader.
"We show up every day to do the vital work we are paid for. Our partial strike last year was necessary to highlight the severe lack of investment in learning support and the dangerously long waiting lists for children with significant needs."
Ministry of Education figures show that students with severe needs – including those requiring assistance with learning, hearing, vision, physical disabilities, language use, and social communication – face a shocking wait of up to 116 days. This means that nearly two-thirds of the school year is gone by the time students get the learning support they need.
Conor Fraser said specialist staff frequently work overtime just to keep the system afloat and 'working to rule' demonstrates what a manageable workload actually looks like.
"By standing up for fair pay and conditions, we are fighting for the resources and staffing levels that New Zealand's most vulnerable children deserve," she added.
Rosemary Emery, a speech and language therapist for over 30 years, said that while she loves her job, the massive workload and continued undervaluing of her profession have become unbearable.
"I'm sick to the back teeth of my work being undervalued and our working conditions being stretched so thin," she said. "We're beyond capacity as it is; we simply don't have the specialists to take on new cases."
"To dock 10 per cent of our pay over three and a half weeks caused huge amounts of stress. I had colleagues who, in those weeks, couldn't afford the petrol to get to work or pay their mortgages."