Secondary school teachers vote to strike

Secondary school teachers have voted overwhelmingly to strike after rejecting the Government's latest pay offer.

Thousands of Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA) members last week voted for strike action after earlier voting to stop pay talks with the Ministry of Education.

Teachers want a 4 percent pay rise, while the ministry is offering a 1.5 percent rise.

The first nationwide day-long strike could take place within the next fortnight, and further strikes could follow.

PPTA president Kate Gainsford said today the ministry had set the tone for negotiations by proposing a number of claw-backs.

Discussions around issues such as capping class sizes and free influenza immunisations for teachers had been shut down, she said.

"It's not just a problem about what teachers have got in their back pocket. There are a whole range of claims in our package, and none of them have been addressed - none of them have been thought about, none of them have been responded to properly," she told Radio New Zealand.

Ms Gainsford said parents would support strike action because issues like class size were a community concern.

Teachers would conduct an awareness campaign but would not push their position during school hours or at parent-teacher interviews.

The PPTA was still open to further negotiations.

"We've called off strikes before, we'll do it again if we see movement of the kind that we need to see," Ms Gainsford said.

"The government needs to make some decisions because they've put their negotiators in a tough place if they're not going to look at the envelope of what is being allowed to work with."

Education Minister Anne Tolley urged the PPTA to get back around the bargaining table.

"It's (the strike action) extremely disappointing and won't be welcomed by parents," she said.

- NZPA