Specialist learning support staff have voted to accept their latest offer from the Ministry of Education and have withdrawn their strike action. Specialist learning support staff cover a huge variety of educational specialists who work to support learners with a diverse range of needs. Their work ban commenced on 24 July as a result of unresolved issues with their collective agreement negotiations.

NZEI Te Riu Roa, the union for the sector, negotiated a new offer which was put to the vote and accepted by the sector yesterday.

Conor Fraser, lead negotiator for the Ministry of Education Field Staff said it was a relief to reach an agreement and it was down to the members taking strike action to win these gains. However, she said there was more work to be done.

"Through our strike action we’ve made some gains around pay and salary progressions, but we still need to see changes around workload as well as a review of te reo Māori and tikanga provisions. We’re establishing working groups for all of these outstanding issues.

“The work we do with tamariki with diverse needs is highly specialised and the call for our services keeps growing. Our workloads remain high and we need more experienced staff in our sector to make it sustainable. This can be addressed by investing in quality public learning support services.”

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