Not sure how many other parents there are here, but this has been ongoing for some months now with no end in sight. I actually wish there was more media coverage to raise awareness of the plight of our teachers.
Yes, it’s frustrating to have our kids home while we’re trying to work etc, and I worry about impact on their schooling (especially when ‘normality’ was starting to return post-COVID lockdowns) but I feel strongly that these teachers are absolutely getting the short end of the stick in the pay negotiations. Keep supporting them where you can, talk to your kids about the whys of what’s going on and cross everything for a positive resolution soon!
My 2c anyway :-)
Christ, I’ve said it before I’ll say it again.
Teachers, nurses, firefighters: pay them wherever they want, give them whatever they ask for.
This is why you have a local MP, tell them to get the MoE to shut up and pony up.
I couldn’t disagree more. And I say that as someone who is left leaning and thinks we should all pay more tax. And I have sympathy for the teachers, nurses, firefighters, etc.
But at the moment, NZ’s number one priority must be cutting inflation. Otherwise, interest rates keep going up, the price of purchases goes up, and everyone needs another pay rise to keep up. It becomes a vicious cycle.
We’re all feeling the pinch right now, but the more money the government pours out at the moment, the worse this crisis gets.
That’s an argument relevant to the last year or two of excessive inflation.
Irrelevant to the preceding years of excessively low inflation or the preceding decades of more or less just-right inflation.
There are plenty of other areas of government spending that can take the hit of reduced spending other than the wages of teachers, nurses, and firefighters.