Judith Collins, Erica Stanford call teacher strike over pay ‘political stunt’

Wednesday, 13 August 2025

Public Service Minister Judith Collins and Education Minister Erica Stanford have called the secondary teachers’ union’s decision to reject a pay increase offer a “political stunt” and said there was no “genuine” engagement from the union.

The ministers lashed the union as secondary school teachers said they will strike for a day next Wednesday, following the Government’s offer of a 1% pay increase in their collective agreement negotiations.

Collins and Stanford held a joint press conference at Parliament on Wednesday evening, saying a fair and reasonable offer had been made and its rejection after six days at the bargaining table was a “disingenuous stunt”.

Collins said as students were preparing for exams they would be disrupted “once again. Rather than engage in further constructive bargaining, the [union] has chosen to take this highly disruptive action. They have not come back to the bargaining table with any offer or counter offer…

“There has not been genuine engagement whatsover. In fact, it appears from everything I’ve been advised [of] being somewhat disingenuous behaviour from the [union] and basically a political stunt.”

Chris Abercrombie, president of the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA), said earlier on Wednesday taking strike action was not a decision taken lightly but was overwhelmingly endorsed by members - there are 21,000 union members - in a ballot.

“We would much prefer to have received a satisfactory offer from the Government which addressed the significant challenges we are facing.”

A 1% pay increase was the lowest offer in a generation and came at a time when teachers were facing the biggest changes to secondary education in that time, Abercrombie said.

It was important to be able to attract people to the profession, as well as retain skilled and experienced teachers, particularly during a time of “relentless and momentous change to secondary education”. It was also crucial to being able to implement the Government’s proposed NCEA reforms, he said.

But Education Minister Erica Stanford agreed with Collins’ assessment of the union’s rejection as a stunt, and said the union had a “very slick marketing campaign” already about the strike.

“It does have an air of premeditation with only six days of bargaining at the table.”

Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche also issued a statement on Wednesday, urging the union to put “children’s learning first and return to the table in good faith”. Roche was also at the ministers’ press conference.

According to the Public Service Commission the average secondary school teacher income is $100,000, up from $93,000 three years ago. It said a teacher with a decade’s experience could earn up to $147,000 including allowances.

Roche said the union had rejected an offer that represented a 3% increase over three years, on top of annual pay progression of between 4.5% and 7.5%.

“For many secondary teachers, this equates to pay increases between $2500 and $7000 a year, with regular annual progression included. Over three years it means increases of $1850 to $3123 for most teachers, in addition to $10,000 to $17,000 with annual pay progression.

“I urge the union to reconsider what I believe is a fair offer, on top of the significant pay advances (14.5%) secondary teachers have received over the last three years. This is not the time for grandstanding or escalation – it’s a time for constructive dialogue.”

A December 2024 collective agreement changed what trained and untrained teachers are paid. For trained teachers the new minimum salary became $61,329 and the maximum $103,086. For untrained teachers the minimum salary became $53,155 and the maximum $88,864.

Julia Davidson, principal of Wellington Girls’ College and acting chair of the Greater Wellington Secondary School Principal’s Association, said it was an “absolute right” to strike but she hoped it would be resolved before then.

Exams were being held next week so strike action would only affect a number of year levels, she said.

“It's a tough time to recruit teachers. We all want people who are well paid and do a great job, we want to support them with that.”

Canterbury West Coast Secondary Principals Association president Rachel Skelton said the strike action was not surprising.

“Unfortunately with the disappointing offer made to teachers and the pressures within education, this action seemed inevitable.”

She said contingency planning for the day would be challenging for many schools as a majority of teachers were PPTA members.

“Many schools will struggle to provide any more than minimal supervision if they are able to open at all. Hopefully this will spark some action and fairer negotiations around pay and conditions to make teaching a more viable option for the level of qualifications required.”

Abercrombie said the offer failed to address all of PPTA’s claims including a need for greater recognition of curriculum leaders, more subject specialist advisers, and teacher-led professional learning and development funding.

“In these tough economic times, no-one wants to give up a day’s pay. The fact that teachers are willing to do this shows how deeply we care about what is at stake for public education.”

The Government should spend money on public education rather than charter schools, he said.

Members also voted to roster students home and not teach specific year groups on certain days for a week from September 15, if sufficient progress was not made in negotiations.

Abercrombie acknowledged teachers’ industrial action would be disruptive for many parents and caregivers.

“However, parents know what our work involves, they know we care about our students and the education they receive. Every student needs specialist teachers in every subject and every student deserves to have their pastoral needs met.

“We ask parents to stand with us as we strive for a better deal for all students.”

– With additional reporting by Cate Macintosh