Ministry of Education suspends staff on strike, asks for urgent mediation

Tuesday, 22 July 2025

About 2300 Ministry of Education staff represented by two unions have been suspended as they went on strike on Tuesday over a Government pay deal they say does not address their concerns.

And following the strike, the ministry has asked for urgent mediation with both unions.

The strike included about 800 members of NZEI Te Riu Roa and 1500 Public Service Association (PSA) members.

The union members, employed to support children with learning difficulties, walked off the job for two hours and from Wednesday, will work to rule, lasting for a month.

Picketing the ministry’s Wellington office, PSA national organiser Ashok Jacob said the ministry’s decision to suspend striking workers was not necessary.

“They don’t get paid for going on strike anyway so they don’t have to suspend them in order to make that happen. It won't affect their pay beyond just not getting paid for striking. It's a choice that they've made. It's a cheap intimidation tactic.”

Rob Campbell, ministry hautū (leader), corporate, confirmed staff were suspended and said this was the available mechanism to not pay staff for the two-hour strike action.

The ministry requested, and NZEI agreed to attend urgent mediation. The parties are working to identify a date.

Discussions with PSA were ongoing, he said.

“The ministry remains focused on maintaining day-to-day operations and minimising disruption to children, young people, and their families.

“While we are disappointed that NZEI and PSA have chosen to proceed with industrial action despite initial offers, we remain committed to progressing collective agreements in good faith with the unions.”

NZEI field staff and service managers undertaking partial strike action from Wednesday would have a 10% deduction in pay for the duration of the partial strike which was in keeping with recent law changes, Campbell said.

The NZEI members include speech-language therapists, early intervention teachers, occupational therapists, psychologists, kaitakawaenga (mediators), advisers on deaf children and service managers.

The NZEI claims covered three groups ‒ field staff, support workers and service managers ‒ all seeking an increase to pay rates for a one-year term. Support workers also claimed for better job security; field staff also claimed for an increase in staffing and safe caseloads; and service managers claimed for professional development.

All three groups were given proposals with no new pay offers to salaries and wage rates, with pay progression remaining as per the current agreement, an NZEI spokesperson said.

Christchurch early learning teacher Tamara Clemett said she and her colleagues had taken action because the ministry’s offer did nothing to address a completely unsustainable workload.

“The increases in requests for support have been growing substantially, and there’s been no change to staffing allowances for that. Our case load has just continued to climb.

“Burnout is a real thing. My cases are extremely complex. I’m sitting with these children until they go to school. I end up having to keep adding on more cases, without closing any existing case.“

PSA national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons said the pay offer was “miserly”.

“The ministry is offering an increase which is less than the increase in the minimum wage this year.”

The PSA members included people who design and administer the learning support system, write the curriculum, oversee regulations that keep children safe, maintain school buildings and property, and more.

Fitzsimons said the ministry was also threatening flexible working by “removing explicit commitments in the collective to allow members to work in a way which suits their family circumstances”.

It could not agree to what was on offer and Fitzsimons did not rule out further strike action. “They’re standing up for themselves, their families, but also the future of New Zealand’s public education system, which is under attack.”

NZEI national secretary Stephanie Mills was concerned people would leave their jobs if their pay and work conditions did not improve.

“It’s a vicious cycle, because the long waitlists and the heavy case loads will just increase, and mean more people get burnt out and want to leave.”

Bec Hennessy, early intervention teacher and NZEI negotiator said one of the main reasons for striking for her was the “ever increasing” waiting lists.

She had been at the ministry for 7½ years and when she first started, it was one of the best places she had ever worked in.

“But that’s just diminished greatly,” she said. ”I don’t know anyone who feels valued right now and that’s the sad reality of it.”

The learning support budget was not being implemented quick enough and Hennessy was visibly emotional, talking about the impact on tamariki, whānau and staff who were under pressure without adequate support.

“We do our job because we see value and purpose behind it. The Government isn’t helping us to do that; we are losing staff. I’m here because I’m passionate about helping those children that don’t have voices – that we know struggle daily.”

Claire Cooper, a speech language therapist, said the impact early intervention could make was “enormous”.

“It means these kids have a shot at being able to do things that they might not otherwise be able to do.”

Labour MP Willow-Jean Prime was among a number of politicians in the crowd in Wellington who showed their support.

“It was really clear listening to them today that they didn’t want it to have to come to this, but they have been forced to come out here,” Prime said.

“What the Government could be doing is paying these workers more fairly with better working conditions so that they can continue to do this important job right here and now.”

Staff from across the motu joined the strike including Auckland, Hamilton, Napier, Lower Hutt, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin.