October 2007

KEY POINTS:

The final claims for the re-negotiation of the Support Staff in Schools Collective Agreement and the Kaiarahi i te Reo, Therapists’, ATSSD and Special Education Assistants’ Collective Agreement were presented to the Ministry of Education on 27th September 2007.
The claims were finalised following a nationwide round of paid union meetings held in September.
There are five additions to the claims that were presented at the membership meetings.
The formal negotiation of the two collective agreements will commence on Wednesday 6th November 2007.

ACTION:

Worksite representatives

Please copy and distribute this newsletter to all NZEI members covered by the SSCA or the KRCA employed at your school.

Support Staff

Please take the time to read your copy of this newsletter. A full list of claims is available here.

ENQUIRIES:

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

October 2007

Dear Members,

The final claims for the renewal of the collective agreement that covers your terms and conditions of employment were presented to the Ministry of Education on 27th September 2007. The claims were finalised on the basis of the feedback and votes of the several thousand NZEI members who attended the recent national round of paid union meetings.

Over 98% of members who attended the meetings voted in favour of the claims as were set out in the claims booklet circulated to members in July. While there were some additional claims raised at individual meetings around the country, there were only five issues which were consistently raised. The negotiating team has looked to address these in the final claim. They were:

The option of redundancy being made available to members who have their hours reduced by more than 50%;
An allowance for the members required to use sign language for communication as part of their job;
The Employment Relations Educational leave be included in the agreements;
A competency clause. A number of competency issues for support staff have arisen over the past year and having a process within the agreement would be helpful in resolving the issues;
An increase in the sick leave entitlement to 10 working days. The present entitlement is for 6 days for those working less than 5 days per week and 7 days for those working 5 days per week.

The full list of claims is available here.

Ratification Process

Your collective agreement negotiations are scheduled for 6, 7, 8 and 12, 13, 14 November. If needed, three further dates (November 20, 21, 22) have been pencilled in.

As most of you will know, whatever settlement may be negotiated at the bargaining table can not be formally agreed upon until NZEI has conducted a successful membership ratification vote. As reported at the meetings, this is likely to be conducted by way of a postal ballot.

The only exception to this will be if the negotiating team feel that the Ministry are not prepared to negotiate in a reasonable manner or are not prepared to make a sensible offer for settlement. In those circumstances a further round of membership meetings may be needed to determine an appropriate response.

Paid Union Meetings

It was again encouraging to see support staff members turning out in their thousands at the recent round of meetings. This reinforces the message to the Ministry of Education that NZEI and its 11,000 strong support staff membership remain committed to achieving significant improvement to the terms and conditions of support staff employed in schools.

Expiry of Current Collective Agreements

Both the SSCA and KRCA expired on 1 September 2007. Under the Employment Relations Act, the terms and conditions of the expired collective agreement continue to apply until new agreements are negotiated, provided that this happens within 12 months of the expiry date.

Your Support

The negotiation of these collective agreements is a top priority for NZEI this year. Members delivered a strong endorsement for the claims at the round of meetings and your negotiators will, as always be seeking the best possible terms of settlement at the bargaining table. Your continued support is essential as we work through the issues both in the negotiations and in the funding review.

Negotiating Team

A reminder that your negotiating team is:

Members
Mereana Epi Mana	Librarian	Ellerslie Primary, Auckland
Ann Hoglund	Teacher Aide / Admin	Kaiapoi North School, Canterbury
Gaye Parlane	Office Manager	Papanui High School, Christchurch
Kahore Anania	Kaiarahi Reo	TKKM o Te Rawhiti Roa
Jenny Quinney	Office Manager	Kowhai Special School, Hastings
Mahoney Topia	Occupational Therapist	Carlson CP School, Auckland
Sue Nimmo	Librarian/RTLB	Castlecliff School
Sophie Short	Resource Manager	TKKM o Te Rawhiti Roa
Staff
Kevin Burrows	Executive Officer	NZEI National Office
Sharyn Gibbons	Executive Officer	NZEI National Office
Kathy Gibbs	Field Officer	NZEI Auckland Office
Trish Harrison-Hunt	Takawaenga	NZEI Te Wai Pounamu (based in Christchurch office)

Kia kaha, kia toa, kia manawanui

Kevin Burrows and Sharyn Gibbons
Advocates

For office use:

NZEI Negotiations SSCA/KRCA 2007/07
Page 3 of 3
To: All schools
Files: 325.22/325.20