Collective Bargining in 2022

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Unions Series

When I started teaching in 2019 here in New Zealand our union collective agreement was about to expire. We had Paid Union Meetings, went on strike when things weren’t going well, and ultimately came away with some wins.

Back the Teachers

We got 9% pay increase over three years; an extra pay step was introduced; management units were increased; addition of gender neutral pronouns in the parental leave clause; Māori immersion teacher allowance; career advisor allowance; one-off gross payment of $1500; and a few other miscellanous things. Read the full list here.

Finn Learns About Inflation

Being new to teaching and a bit naive about the workforce I thought that 9% over three years was a great win - how nice of the Ministry of Education to value teachers with more income! How wrong I was. It turns out that as of 09/02/2022 inflation is raging!

Quarter Inflation (%)
Jun-19 1.7
Sep-19 1.5
Dec-19 1.9
Mar-20 2.5
Jun-20 1.5
Sep-20 1.4
Dec-20 1.4
Mar-21 1.5
Jun-21 3.3
Sep-21 4.9
Dec-21 5.9

Data courtesy of Stats NZ. Retrieved: 09/02/2022.

We can see that it is getting a bit out of hand recently, but what about the total inflation since July 2019 when the collective agreement came into force? Let’s ask the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.

Inflation between Q2 2019 and Q4 2021. Retrieved 09/02/2022.
(📷: Finn Le Sueur) Inflation between Q2 2019 and Q4 2021. Retrieved 09/02/2022.

The collective agreement doesn’t expire until July 2022, so we should expect even more inflation in the interim. What does this mean for the 9% increase in wages that we won in 2019? It just barely covered inflation. We got no pay rise. We are well on our way to essentially receiving a pay cut.

The Bargining Stage

What does this mean for our next round of collective bargining in 2022? Perhaps that we need to bargin hard for an actual pay rise. We should not just accept a pay rise that matches inflation. The Ministry of Education needs to value our jobs in order to attract more teachers into the future. We need to be attracting the best and brightest around to help support the generations that will come after us.

“The demand for primary teachers is projected to grow marginally until 2023, before dropping year-on-year in the longer term. Whilst the demand for secondary teachers is still projected to grow year-on-year out to 2024.” - Ministry of Education / Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga. Retrieved 09/02/2022.

Okay, so what about inflation into the future? Reading BNZ’s Markets Outlook document published 08/02/2022 (retrieved 09/02/2022) there are a few little points to note.

“…there has been little, if any, sign from various business surveys that the worst of the price increases are behind us.”

and this wonderful excerpt (page 9) of a table with some forecasts, where 2022, 2023 and 2024 are forecasts.

2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
CPI 2.5 1.5 6.3 2.9 2.4

From this we can see that we are going to need to advocate agressively for a large pay increase to meet inflation, let alone to make the profession more attractive to future teachers.

Potential Objections

  1. Nurses were in negotiations for 15 months and didn’t get that much!

Just because their employers struggled to understand and value nurses and the requirements for safe practice (literally helping to save lives), doesn’t mean that the Ministry of Education Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga can’t do better!

  1. $90,000 at the top of the pay scale sure seems like a lot of money!

It sure does. Especially to myself, as a person without kids. But. Without future pay increases, inflation will ensure that the spending power of that income decreases. Without action we will get a paycut.

  1. Teachers get so many holidays!

We absolutely do, no argument there. Interestingly, our agreement allows for schools to require us to attend up to five days of professional development when the school is not open for instruction (read: holiday). You will also find that a number of schools run meetings and other work-related days over the holidays. One often finds a large stack of marking to do over holidays too, so it’s not one big free-for-all like you can’t imagine.

It’s Not Only Money

As I have written about before, teaching is hard mental and emotional work. It means dealing with 100+ students with the potential for lots of “out of hours” marking and other admin. Money makes you feel better about that prospect, but it doesn’t fix anything. It does however help attract more staff which would make these other ideas more reasonable!

Write to the PPTA

Find your representatives here.


Dear <Your Representatives Here>,

I am writing you today to encourage you to fight hard for a large pay increase in the upcoming collective agreement negotiations.

Since our last agreement where we won 9% over three years, inflation has increased 8.7% (2019 Q2 through 2021 Q4). This means that despite the pay increase, the buying power of our salary has not increased.

BNZ's Market Outlook document released on 08/02/2022 says "...there has been little, if any, sign from various business surveys that the worst of the price increases are behind us.". Therefore in this coming set of negotiations we need to argue for at least a 10% increase in salaries.

Here is an excerpt from the BNZ Market Outlook which shows a Consumer Price Index (inflation) forecast.

|     | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|-----|------|------|------|------|------|
| CPI |  2.5 |  1.5 |  6.3 |  2.9 |  2.4 |

The Ministry of Education itself expects "the demand for secondary teachers is still projected to grow year-on-year out to 2024". How do they expect to attract more teachers to the profession if the wages do not keep up with inflation? We need more trainees entering the profession, both directly out of university and from other professions. The easiest way to do that is to make the compensation extremely competitive. If our wages fail to be competitive, then it is possible teachers will even be lost to other professions.

Here are some other considerations that would directly improve the quality of life of teachers:
- Reduce the number of contact hours
- Reduce class sizes
- Increase funding for staff allocated to pastoral care
- Put aside meaningful time/funding/resources to train teachers in Te Reo Māori

References:
- BNZ Market Outlook https://www.bnz.co.nz/assets/markets/research/BNZMO_20220208.pdf
- Ministry of Education Teacher Supply Update (2022) https://www.education.govt.nz/news/teacher-supply-for-the-2022-school-year-update/
- Royal Bank of New Zealand Inflation Calculator https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/monetary-policy/inflation-calculator

Thank you for the work you do in representing us!
<Your Name Here>

Write to your Member of Parliment & Education Ministers

Find your member of parliament here.


Dear Hon Chris Hipkins, Hon Jan Tinetti, Hon Kelvin Davis, Hon Aupito William Sio and <Your MP Here>,

I am writing you today to encourage you to value teachers; to follow the data; to do the right thing; to make our profession attractive.

Since our last agreement where we won 9% over three years, inflation has increased 8.7% (2019 Q2 through 2021 Q4). This means that despite the pay increase, the buying power of our salary has not increased.

BNZ's Market Outlook document released on 08/02/2022 says "...there has been little, if any, sign from various business surveys that the worst of the price increases are behind us.". Therefore in this coming set of negotiations there needs to be an aggressive plan in place teaching to stay competitive in the marketplace.

Here is an excerpt from the BNZ Market Outlook which shows a Consumer Price Index (inflation) forecast.

|     | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|-----|------|------|------|------|------|
| CPI |  2.5 |  1.5 |  6.3 |  2.9 |  2.4 |

The Ministry of Education itself expects "the demand for secondary teachers is still projected to grow year-on-year out to 2024". How do you expect to attract more teachers to the profession if the wages do not keep up with inflation? We need more trainees entering the profession, both directly out of university and from other professions. The easiest way to do that is to make the compensation extremely competitive. If our wages fail to be competitive, then it is possible teachers will even be lost to other professions.

Here are some other considerations that would directly improve the quality of life of teachers:
- Reduce the number of contact hours
- Reduce class sizes
- Increase funding for staff allocated to pastoral care
- Put aside meaningful time/funding/resources to train teachers in Te Reo Māori

References:
- BNZ Market Outlook https://www.bnz.co.nz/assets/markets/research/BNZMO_20220208.pdf
- Ministry of Education Teacher Supply Update (2022) https://www.education.govt.nz/news/teacher-supply-for-the-2022-school-year-update/
- Royal Bank of New Zealand Inflation Calculator https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/monetary-policy/inflation-calculator

Thank you for your time today,
<Your Name Here>