PPTA To Enter Facilitated Bargaining For Collective Agreement

PPTA Te Wehengarua will undertake facilitated bargaining for the secondary teachers’ collective agreement, says Chris Abercrombie PPTA Te Wehengarua acting president.

“The Employment Relations Authority (ERA) decision issued today has correctly identified that pay is one of the key areas of concern for our members. Facilitation will continue the negotiating process and we hope that having an independent person in the room will be helpful.”

In the decision, the ERA aknowledged PPTA’s position that the Ministry’s approach to settling the agreement appears unreasonably constrained by its views of the Public Service Pay Adjustment (PSPA) and its impact on any pay offer.

Chris Abercrombie said secondary teachers would be heartened by the ERA’s finding that ‘the application of the PSPA to this bargaining round and the constraint it may have on any pay offer appears to be a key feature of why agreement on remuneration has not been possible to date’.

“We have been saying this for some time now so it’s good to have our concerns validated,” said Chris Abercrombie.

In 11 months of negotiations, the Ministry has made only one offer, on October 25 last year, which was rejected by PPTA Te Wehengarua members.

“We have a shortage of secondary teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand that is worsening every week. We need pay rates that at least keep up with inflation so teachers’ pay doesn’t go backwards.”

Chris Abercrombie said PPTA looked forward to receiving more details soon about the facilitated bargaining, including timing.

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