Member Action
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See all our great Support Staff Success Stories on video!
Lobbying MPs
Queen Street March Video
Napier Support Staff Video
This video was made by support staff in Napier to present to their local MP in early June 2009.Find more videos like this on Fair Deal
Support Staff demand a better deal, Friday 17 April
NZEI support staff members visit Government MPs as part of nation-wide rally on Friday 17 April.
Support staff rally around NZ
Onehunga Member Action, 17 April
Slide show about support staff campaign and member action in Onehunga.
www.slideshare.net
Support Staff meet Prime Minister John Key, Thurs 2 April, Huapai
Kindergarten head teacher Dot Lovell-Smith and support staff members Linda Jordan and Julie-Anne Gauld express their frustration to the Prime Minister John Key over the ongoing bargaining delays to their collective agreements.
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Bargaining of three national collective agreements covering kindergarten teachers, support staff, kaiarahi i te reo and therapists was due to start in February. The agreements expired well over a month ago on March 1st.
A group of about 35 NZEI members staged a protest outside the Prime Minister's Huapai electorate office, handing out leaflets and door-stopping people as they headed inside for the electorate’s AGM.
Support staff member Linda Jordan says “We spoke with John Key for about five minutes and I think we managed to put our issues on the map for him and he could see that we mean business.”
International Womens Day Symposium, Friday 6 March, Hamilton
Pansy Wong, the Minister for Women’s Affaires, attended an International Women's Day Symposium in Hamilton on Friday 6 March. Other speakers included Tariana Turia and Roselyn Noonan. Ms Wong was accompanied by local National MP David Bennett.Local unions and community groups staged a picket outside the symposium in protest against the government’s decision to stop all pay investigations for low paid women workers.
NZEI was very visible and had several good union Support Staff members present. They were concerned about pay inequity impacting on their negotiations.
Several schools have faxed Tony Ryall or written to Pansy Wong about pay inequity and its adverse impact on Support Staff.
Members report they had a very positive feeling after the picket, unions and community groups worked together on an issue of mutual concern, it dovetailed into an issue important NZEI members and a heavily feminised Support Staff workforce.
Taking the Initiative
NZEI members at a Napier school went one step further with their ‘Stronger Together for Fair Pay’ activity. They personally filled Dr Michael Cullen’s letterbox with letters asking him to allocate new funds to address the issue of low pay for Support Staff. This is a perfect example of members taking the initiative and ensuring that their message gets to the right person.Being Direct and Upfront
A Nelson member went right to the top when Helen Clark attended a CTU Forum in Nelson recently. She addressed the meeting regarding the low pay issues for Support Staff, and then when the forum finished, cornered the Prime Minister, provided her with a copy all of the issues she had reported and asked her to promise that she would read it. She left an email address with the information and is now following up the response she asked for.62 Letters
A Hamilton school got right behind the Support Staff Campaign and sent over 62 letters about Support Staff issues to the Minister of Finance, Minster of Education and local MPs.If you are given the opportunity to meet with any MPs, (particularly government or support), take your chance to personally highlight support staff issues.
