Dear Parents/Caregivers
I am writing to keep you informed of the outcome of the teacher industrial action ballot for NZEI Te Riu Roa Union members. NZEI Te Riu Roa primary teacher members have endorsed a one-day strike on Wednesday 31 May and a ban on meetings outside of 8.30am-4.30 from 1-30 June.
However, due to a process initiated by the Minister of Education to progress collective agreement negotiations, any decision on moving forward with these industrial actions has been paused by the NZEI Te Riu Roa National Executive.
Strike action may still take place on Wednesday 31 May if the NZEI Te Riu Roa National Executive and negotiations team feels insufficient progress has been made through the new process. If action does go ahead on Wednesday 31 May, schools will be informed on Sunday 28th May, and I will then inform the school community. We will have a skeleton staff here at school and can offer supervision for those who require it. Please note that this will be very limited and we ask that children only come in if you have no other option. I wanted to give parents as much time as possible to organise arrangements for your child/ren should the action go ahead.
Hopefully the negotiations will come to a resolution quickly and the Ministry of Education values the work our teachers do through better wages, conditions and lower class numbers
He waka eke noa
(We’re all in this together)
Mark Keenan
Principal