Educators feel undervalued and disrespected by the Government and their growing discontent at what's happening in the sector will be at the top of the agenda as more than 120 major school and learning support staff paid union meetings kick off across the motu today.
In a rare move, teachers, principals, school support staff and Ministry of Education learning support staff, who are members of NZEI Te Riu Roa, have combined their union meetings.
Teachers, support staff and some learning support staff have voted against accepting government offers that don’t begin to address their concerns. Principals have not had an offer yet, but have been asked by the Ministry to negotiate pay and conditions within a 1% per annum ceiling. They refused.
Liam Rutherford, a teacher and NZEI Te Riu Roa primary teacher negotiation lead, says that while each educator’s job is different, there are many shared issues across the different professional groups.
“We all want to see learning support meeting the needs of young people. It is essential for our ākonga, and, importantly, it also makes our jobs doable.
“We want to see our responsibilities to Te Tiriti protected in education. We all want pay that recognises our value, and crucially, that attracts and retains people in the education profession.”
He says members want to feel valued and respected for the work they do. The recent fast-tracked changes to pay equity legislation, which saw teachers’ claim scrapped, felt like an attack on more than 90,000 teachers in Aotearoa. Teacher aides, kaiārahi i te reo and other school support staff also lost their right to have their pay equity settlements reviewed and updated.
“We will be using these paid union meetings to work out where to go next on our shared issues,” says Rutherford.
The meetings have been planned in a way that enables schools and Ministry offices to remain open while they are on. Measures include organising multiple meetings at different times so that members can split into groups and take turns attending different meetings, while others remain at school. In some cases, localised arrangements have been made to address specific situations.
Rutherford says feedback from whānau with tamariki at his school shows they are supportive of the meetings.
Notes to editors:
Kimi Haeata | Back our Future paid union meetings start on 18 August and run until 29 August.
For interviews with any members from different sector groups, please contact media@nzei.org.nz
Below is a list of the different staff who are meeting and where they are at in their collective agreement negotiations:
Teachers
Timeline for primary school teachers
Have been in negotiation since late June.
First collective agreement offer rejected in August.
Timeline for area school teachers
Have been in negotiation since late July.
No offer received.
Principals
Timeline for primary principals
Have been in negotiation since July 2025.
Principals have been asked to negotiate within a 1% envelope and have not received an offer.
Timeline for area school principals
Negotiations will begin in September.
Support staff: teacher aides, learning assistants, administrators, school librarians, science technicians, non teacher trained guidance counsellors and others. Kaiārahi i te Reo and therapists.
Timeline for support staff
Support staff have been in negotiation since October 2024.
Support staff in schools rejected their third offer in June.
Timeline for Kaiārahi i te Reo and therapists:
Kairārahi i te Reo/ Therapists have been in negotiation since October 2024.
Kaiārahi i te Reo /Therapists rejected their second offer in February.
Ministry of Education learning support specialist staff:
Timeline for education support workers, behaviour support workers and communication support workers
Have been in negotiation since March 2025.
Rejected a second offer following mediation in August.
Minstry of Education field staff: Advisers on deaf children, behaviour support specialists, behaviour support teachers, disability facilitators, early intervention teachers, education specialist trainees, intern psychologists, Kaitakawaenga, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, Pouarahi-a-Takiwa/district Māori advisers, psychologists, special education advisers, speech language therapists and regional technology co-ordinators
Timeline for field staff
Have been in negotiations since February 2025.
Field staff rejected their second offer after mediation in August and are on a ‘work to rule’ partial strike until 22 August.
NZEI Te Riu Roa is taking legal action after the Ministry of Education docked the pay of those on partial strike by 10%. The Employment Court has agreed to hear the case.
Timeline for service managers
Began negotiations in February 2025.
Have just settled, following mediation.
ENDS
For more information and to arrange interviews