April 2007

KEY POINTS:

Attached to this newsletter is the booklet detailing the proposed claims for the negotiation of the Primary Teachers’ Collective Agreement later this year.
Also attached is the list of Paid Union Meetings being conducted in May in your area.
At the Paid Union Meetings, a vote will be taken on the proposed claims as set out in the attached booklet.

ACTION:

Worksite representatives:

There is a copy of the claims booklet for each teacher at your school who is an NZEI member plus one for the principal. Please make sure that all receive their copy.
Between now and the date of the meeting in your area, please convene a meeting of all teachers to discuss the contents of the booklet and identify any key questions your staff may wish to raise at the meeting.
Make arrangements to ensure that all, or as many as possible, of the teachers at your school who are NZEI members attend a meeting.
Talk to the principal about arrangements on the day of the meeting(s) that your colleagues will be attending
Check if there are any new teachers or relieving teachers at your worksite who want to join NZEI

Teachers:

Attend a meeting;
Familiarise yourself with the claims in this booklet and bring a copy of it with you to the meeting.

ENQUIRIES:

For further enquiries contact your local NZEI Te Riu Roa field staff officer, NZEI regional office, or NZEI national office.

File no: 325.55

27 April 2007

Kia ora

The attached claims booklet sets out the proposed claims for the negotiation of the Primary Teachers’ Collective Agreement later this year.

Your NZEI negotiating team met on 15-17 April to write these claims. They are based on the progress report of the Primary Longer Term Work Programme (LTWP) and the feedback we have had from your worksite representatives at a round of reference group meetings in March.

This is a “big” claim. We are trying to put in place the most significant changes since we won pay parity in the 90s. To achieve these changes we need all of our members to show their
support.

You can do that firstly by getting along to your local paid union meeting. These are all being held during the period May 7-25. It is your legal entitlement to attend the meeting. Almost all meetings are scheduled for 1.30pm – 3.30pm. A full list of these meetings has again been sent to you with this newsletter. All principals have been sent a resource kit to assist them with arrangements on the day of the paid union meeting.

Secondly we are asking the NZEI worksite representative at each school to convene a meeting with all teachers (who are NZEI members) to discuss the claims as they are set out in your claims booklet and see if there are any questions you, as a staff, wish to raise at the meeting.

Following the meetings in November a number of concerns were raised by members that they did not have information before the meeting. As a result, they found it difficult to absorb, and make an informed decision on, all of the material presented at the meeting. Accordingly, we have tried to ensure that these claims booklets arrive in your schools at least a week before the meetings start.

The meetings will allow for members to have discussions and ask questions to ensure that they are clear about what is proposed. A vote will be taken on the claim.

The claims have been endorsed by NZEI’s National Executive. The first vote at the meetings will be on the whole of this claims package. We are holding 118 meetings around the country and we are dealing with a collective agreement that covers 25,000 members employed at over 2,000 schools. That means that we must ask each meeting to first vote on the same recommendation – to vote in favour of the claims as presented. However, after that vote has been taken, members may propose additional claims from the floor and an additional claim can include a claim to add to or amend or delete a claim from the booklet.

The claims have been thoroughly researched. NZEI believes that they represent the potential for significant future benefit for all teachers in the primary sector and for primary schooling.

Please make sure that you attend your local meeting and please remember to bring your copy of the claims booklet with you to the meeting.

Kia kaha, kia toa, kia manawanui

Neil Hammond & Jane Porter
Advocates

Primary Teachers' Proposed Claims Booklet

To download a copy (pdf format) of the Primary Teachers' Proposed Claims Booklet - click here.

List of Paid Union Meetings

To download the full schedule of meetings - click here.

For office use:

NZEI Negotiations PTCA 2007/03
Page 2 of 2
To: All Primary Schools
Files: 325.55/430.04