Dom Post flays PPTA
October 20th, 2010 at 12:44 pm by David FarrarThe Dom Post editorial pulls no punches:
Editorial: Get back to work, greedy teachers
That headline is so good, it belongs on a blog 
Secondary teachers’ union head Kate Gainsford wants today’s strike to be seen as being all about a Government that does not value teachers or education, and that is mucking her members about.
There is a good reason she is doing that.
Clothing its extravagant wage demands in the beguiling rhetoric of selfless dedication to the cause of education is the PPTA’s only chance of making them acceptable to the public.
If the union were to get real it means it would lose the argument.
To win, it would have to demonstrate why, in straitened economic times when the Government is borrowing to cover costs, its members should get a 4 per cent pay rise after receiving 4 per cent in each of the previous three years.
It would need to convince the public why its members should be treated differently from nurses and police – and the bulk of the rest of the New Zealand workforce, which has had minimal or no pay rises.
The difficulty for the PPTA is that most NZers understand that in the aftermath of the recession, almost no-one is getting big pay increases – and also that we are borrowing $240 million a week just to help pay for their current salaries.
It would mean telling them that there is something deeply wrong with a system where, according to Education Ministry figures, the average pay, with allowances, for a secondary teacher – not including principals – is $71,110, and where, of the 12,300 fulltime secondary teachers on the teacher salary payroll, 65 per cent earn between $60,000 and $80,000, and another 19 per cent earn more than $80,000, including 150 who earn more than $100,000.
Goodness, 65% of secondary teachers are officially rich pricks (defined as someone earning more than $60,000 – the level the rich prick envy tax used to come in at).
However, even there the union is on shaky ground. Its stance would have more credibility were it to acknowledge that fixing what is wrong with the education system involves more than just fattening the wallets of all teachers in the system, increasing employer KiwiSaver contributions, providing flu injections and laptops, and delivering slightly smaller class sizes.
It means recognising that the quality of the teacher has more impact on student performance than class sizes, the background of the pupil or the school where the teaching takes place.
If the union was genuine, it would call off the strikes and work with the Government to devise a pay system that provides pay rises for the best, rather than seeking rewards for all, regardless of merit.
What an excellent editorial.
I think the top 15% or so of teachers – around 2,000 of them, should be on $100,000. Bot the bottom 15% should be on under $50,000 so they have an incentive to pursue other careers.
Tags: Dominion Post, editorials, PPTA, Wages
October 20th, 2010 at 12:57 pm
Greedy, lazy bitches infantilized by working around children.
Pathetic.
This is what happens when women take over any profession. Suddenly every day is ‘bad hair’ day.
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 1:05 pm
Dominion Post:
Isn’t that contrary to the entire purpose of a union? The best are dragged down to the level of the worst as everybody is getting a collective agreement.
The whole REASON for unions is to ensure that everyone gets the same reward, regardless of merit. That is how they “protect” their members against employers.
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 1:10 pm
I am surprised at some of the PPTA allegations.
Tauranga Girls High School has 1650 pupils, and 220 teaching staff. This I understand does not include auxiliiary staff.
So one teacher for every 7.5 pupils.
So who is lying – again !
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 1:13 pm
I don’t think simply rating by “bottom X%” is a good idea.
If we get decent national standards implemented, then we have a yardstick to measure teachers’ performance and it’s an easy job to incentivise for the year-on-year improvements in their classes. Those that fail to show adequate performance over the year can be “performance managed” out of the profession just like a waste of space in any other job.
Hell, a system like that could even allow vaguely clever stuff like a bigger incentive for improving really underperforming kids which could give an easy way to attract good teachers some of the poorer schools…
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 1:14 pm
These commie rich pricks are teaching the next generation. Thank goodness we forget most of what we are taught at school and learn more when we leave.
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 1:15 pm
Hallelujah! The MSM has seen the light.
This part of the editorial in particular!
“However, even there the union is on shaky ground. Its stance would have more credibility were it to acknowledge that fixing what is wrong with the education system involves more than just fattening the wallets of all teachers in the system, increasing employer KiwiSaver contributions, providing flu injections and laptops, and delivering slightly smaller class sizes.
It means recognising that the quality of the teacher has more impact on student performance than class sizes, the background of the pupil or the school where the teaching takes place.”
THE QUALITY OF THE TEACHER!! That should put the heretics of the PPTA in their place! The PPTA are rapidly losing what little public support they have.
(I wish someone would offer me a one off payment of $1000.00 dollars and 2% over two years on top of that. I’m in a Government department, and this year I got NOTHING!)
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 1:24 pm
RoWisWoR,
Agreed. Perhaps some in the media are seeing that pragmatism trumps ideology and that this govt is all about common sense and sensible action, not some overbearing Right monster looking to turn all of the workers into feudal serfs.
And its only taken two years.
(Somehow I think the fanatic lefties in the MSM will be back in force shortly though. As they say “normal service is restored”)
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 1:26 pm
“Paulus (247) Says:
Tauranga Girls High School has 1650 pupils, and 220 teaching staff. This I understand does not include auxiliiary staff.
So one teacher for every 7.5 pupils.
So who is lying – again ! ”
I think you mean Taurange Girls College
Vote:It actually has 70 odd teachers & 35 HODs / Deans etc
So that = 115 teachers for 1650 pupils = a ratio of 15
October 20th, 2010 at 1:35 pm
Please, DPF, I have asked you several times, and you have never bothered to answer this, but I think it is vitally important:
HOW would performance pay be able to be set up in a public school system? You don’t need details, just give me a rough idea what you think would work.
Because this top 15% idea – is that a fixed number? Do we have to re-rank teachers every year in order to work out salaries? If not, how do teachers become part of that 15%? And you say you want the bottom 15% to be paid so that they choose another career – but any new entrants are going to be coming into a system where this pay system is fixed, so you’re expecting to attract better quality teachers over time without increasing the average salary over time. Not going to work.
In a private school, good performance is linked to increased revenues (more students come to the school, teacher is in high demand), and therefore, theoretically, there is no limit to the salaries that teachers can get, or the number of teachers that can be paid the top rate. This does not exist at public schools, and you keep on harping on about how little money there is to spend anyway, right?
So please, please humor me: how do you see it working on a PRACTICAL LEVEL in the public school system?
[DPF: To implement it you need to bring in bulk funding - hand over the entire school budget to the Board and Principal. Trying to do performance pay on the basis of some nationwide formula is near impossible.
I would make each principal responsible for how they pay their staff. If a principal is against performance pay they can split the salaries budget by the number of staff and pafor y them all the same amount. They will be judged by the board and the community for how their school performs.
Other principals may have a standard salary scale but keep $500,000 free as salary bonuses for teachers who they regard as excellent.
And some other principals may have absolutely no standard salary scale at all - they will individually negotiate a salary with each teacher based on how valuable they think they are - some may be on $115,000 and some on $55,000. ]
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 1:47 pm
I get paid to work twelve months with four weeks leave. How much time off do teachers get again?
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 1:47 pm
Wow that Dom Post editorial sure doesn’t pull any punches.
DPF says ‘Clothing its extravagant wage demands’
So now 4% is ‘extravagant’ and with inflation in the next year expected to hit 5%, teachers will actually be going backwards even if they get 4%!
But you heard it here Kiwiblog reader, 4% is ‘extravagant’.
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 1:51 pm
Brian…teachers need the leave to prepare for the new term…Tui ad here.
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 1:53 pm
“In the aftermath of the recession” – You wish. The recession ain’t over by a long shot and inflation is heading over 5%. Stagflation here we come.
Brian Smaller – So does that mean you are going to retrain as a teacher?
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 1:59 pm
YesWeDid:
Mine is 0%.
In-case you and your fellow idiots have missed it there is this little thing called a recession. The government is borrowing billions to keep up with the payments it has been committed to. You know, things like free education, benefits for everyone, etc. Thank fuck they’ve given us a bit of a tax break, even though it’s offset by an increased tax on consumption. But hey – more incentive to save, eh?
I don’t want our government borrowing more money so greedy public servants can be paid more. The rest of the real world has to suck up the fact that raises for the next few years will be minimal to non existant. The real world has to make budget cuts, plan their expenses and generally try to live within their now – reduced – means despite what happens with inflation.
Maybe the greedy few teachers and the PPTA could do the same?
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 1:59 pm
My old school HVHS, has 107 teachers for 1700 students, or a ratio of 15.8 to one. What are the PPTA asking for?
The average pay for a secondary school teacher is 71K. What is the PPTA asking for?
They PPTA want laptops for teachers, why? What has changed in their jobs in the last 2 years that requires the possesion of laptops for all teachers?
Was there no flu jabs when Labour was in government? because they only make it an industrial issue now that the boss has changed.
Make no mistake, the union leaders are creating dissent where ther was none before, simply because they are wanting a change in government.
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 1:59 pm
Yes wedid: Sophistry at work?
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 2:15 pm
Yes WeDid: I’m sure there are many displaced Greek and/or French civil servants who would support your view…but the world has changed, jobs are no longer sacrosanct neither are pensions or retirement ages…sometimes being employed is reward in itself.
Consider also those who saved for their retirement and lost a great deal more than the erosion of inflation when their finance company investments went tits up…their loss was considerably more than 0% for the next 12 months.
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 2:19 pm
DPF: that’s how I would argue it as well – it is certainly the only moderately workable possibility. But there is still the problem that a school is stuck with a fixed pool for salaries that puts a cap on how many “talented” teachers they can attract.
[DPF: If they have that many talented teachers then more students will want to attend, bring more money. But also they could spend less on (for example) computers and use the savings to pay teachers more. If one could get performance pay in, then I would favour a significant increase in funding, so that top teachers can get paid more, without existing teachers being paid less - however over time I would expect some significant gaps to develop between the best and worst teachers]
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 2:26 pm
@transmogrifier:
And businesses have an unlimited pool for salaries? Of course not. Economics is all about the allocation of resources, not saying “well we don’t have unlimited resources and that’s a problem”.
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 2:35 pm
@slightlyrighty The Ministry of Education changed the rules and now all rolls are to be electronic. The laptop issue is not ‘teachers what a free laptop that they can do what ever they want with’ but teachers want their employer to pay for a tool that has been mandated to them by their employer; just like a police officer does not pay for their police car or a shop assistant for their till.
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 2:48 pm
The teachers Union is a mid 1900s cloth cap relic and should be treated as such. The Union leaders should be told to sod off and every school should enter into individual contracts with each teacher based on an annual performance review just like happens in the real world.
Each teacher negoiates their terms and conditions for an agreed period.
Not difficult Not rocket science. Happens all over the country.
The best teachers would get the best terms and conditions and the worst would get told to FOXTROT OSCAR>
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 2:49 pm
‘Consider also those who saved for their retirement and lost a great deal more than the erosion of inflation when their finance company investments went tits up…their loss was considerably more than 0% for the next 12 months.’
Or those in SCF who get all their money plus the interest at 8-10%.
I’m loving this race to the bottom argument going on here. All this from the ‘aspirational’ right wing of New Zealand politics.
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 2:55 pm
Crumble,
“The Ministry of Education changed the rules and now all rolls are to be electronic…but teachers want their employer to pay for a tool that has been mandated to them by their employer…”
Are you seriously trying to tell us that schools do not have PC’s that teachers can use for their admin tasks? So the only answer is for them to have individual laptops? That is a specious argument. I can think of good reasons why they might have MoE funded laptops (not necessarily clearing the cost vs benefit hurdle) but that is not one of them
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 2:57 pm
YesWeDid:
Well, at least the right wing is focussed on working through this recession and coming out with something on the other end. They’re most assuredly not the ones begging the government to borrow more money to pay for their greed.
That would be the PPTA.
In case the obvious haven’t hit you yet.
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 3:02 pm
@bhudson Didn’t say that their were no PC’s but the laptop are used for more than just rolls, creating resources, a teaching and learning tool, showing films, students using them, communication with parents, students, teachers, and other groups, writing reports, using NZQA, TKI and Ministry of Education resources and the list could go on. Also they are just more versatile than a PC e.g. moving from room to room, taking on courses etc.
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 3:13 pm
Crumble,
Given that schools also commonly have PC’s in classrooms and/or IT suites, the point really is that individual teacher PC’s would be useful for many things but absolutely necessary for none or only a few. That is where the cost vs benefit discussion come in.
FWIW – I would endorse tax payer funded laptops in lieu of the 4% pay rise (make the rise around the 1-1.5% others have got.) I think the laptops are practical tool that can help outcomes for students – better class prep, more flexibility in comms, working away from the classroom – e.g. marking, reports, etc.
At present it would seem that the PPTA is refusing to come to the table for negotiations
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 3:30 pm
Tolley didn’t seem in much of a mood for negotiation on Breakfast this morning.
I would expect the government to offer 1.5%, teachers ask for 4% and the final outcome is 2.0-2.5% but that would mean both sides engaging in good faith bargaining.
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 3:33 pm
@bhudson I have never worked at school that had PC’s in the classroom. You might be thinking of primary schools. Yes it is true schools have IT suites but I don’t want my stuff ie tests, worksheets, grades, reports be on a computer that I don’t have direct control over.
Also most teachers already have laptops paid for by the BOT at their school and the rest pay the lease for it. The PPTA claim was so the BOT do not have to pay for them.
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 3:57 pm
The Government will not move from a settlement that is broadly within the rage of other public sector workers. They should say flatly there are no recruitment and retention problems so the need to have higher increases are simply not needed. One thing that would dampen their demands would be to lay off 1-2,000 of the worst performing teachers and give 15% pay increases to the rest. The PPTA is way too protective of bad teachers.
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 4:10 pm
If they want government issued laptops – then they should be held to account for them as well.
They should be available to be checked / audited at any time (including remotely) – after all they would be a government assert.
instant dismissal for any downloaded pirated material – music or movies.
Internet browsers should be made go thru a proxy server at all times and any inappropriate material – porn, feltching, or red alert should result in instant dismissal.
I wonder how many of them would want the laptop then?
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 4:16 pm
‘I wonder how many of them would want the laptop then?’
Probably all of them. My wife had a school issued laptop and the damn thing was locked down so hard we couldn’t even install a new print driver to connect it to our printer at home.
Let’s get over the idea a laptop is a perk. Firstly its essential and secondly its only a tool.
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 4:16 pm
@tankyman most of that already happens. The BOT hold the lease on them and they can be checked by them also all school internet goes through a proxy server.
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 4:18 pm
@ Crumble – I was suggesting one surfing in the evening should also go thru a proxy server – and the logs should be reviewed
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 4:23 pm
@tankyman The logs can be reviewed anytime but the IT staff. At every school I have worked at you sign the computer policy that says that can happen. I’m not to sure if you can do the proxy thing from home internet but I don’t know enough about how the interweb works to answer that.
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 4:28 pm
Sorry that should be “by the IT staff”
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 4:28 pm
“In a private school, good performance is linked to increased revenues”
Absolute crap.
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 4:29 pm
My God I’m a leftie and this strike makes me SO MAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m a public servant and I haven’t had a pay rise in THREE YEARS! I understand why though, we are in a recession. None of my friends and family (in public and private sectors) have had a pay rise either.
What makes teachers think they should be treated differently?? I told a striking teacher this at the Railway Station the other day when she tried to hand me a pamphlet.
They need to get in the real world.
And who else gets 6 weeks holiday a year?! I have teachers as friends and family and I can tell you now, they do NOT spend their leave preparing for the next term…..
Grrrr, this makes me so mad.
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 5:08 pm
Atheist1, this is not about pay rises. This is about creating dissent to bring about a change in government, this is why no matter what the government agree to, the unions will continue to create dissent because that is their aim.
I wish I was a teacher. I would resign from the union and do so publically, and note down every bit of shit that heppened to me so I could make it public.
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 5:44 pm
The government wants to buy these fuckers a one way ticket to France where they can study and digest socialism in all it’s glory . They want a left wing government , fine, fuck off . Failing that the government needs to say back to work within a week and if they do not comply reduce their wages 1% every week they carry on with this bullshit.
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 6:08 pm
DPF How will bulk funding solve the performance pay issues. Are school BOT members qualified to negotiate pay and conditions for teachers. It may work fine for Auckland Grammar and Wellington college, how does the decile 1 and 2 school get on where the members of Board of Trustees may not be experienced business people. It is the inherent flaw in bulk funding in that you are requiring a group of unpaid, unqualified well-intentioned parents to negotiate pay and conditions with unionised professionals.
I think you are deluding yourself if you think that will work without first completely overhauling school governance and the way the MOE supports boards.
I am a member of a school BOT. It is rewarding work that involves time and significant commitment. Support from the MOE is poor. Try navigating their website, almost as bad as IRD’s. We do not have to concern ouselves with negotiating pay and conditions for staff and thank god for that.
Bulk funding is not going to solve performance pay for schools. All it will mean is that the schools with the biggest budgets and ability to raise additional funding will secure the best teachers. The dross will drift to the poorer resourced schools.
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 6:20 pm
@slightlyrighty Come and join us! We always need more teachers! I have yet to see anyone be hassled for not being in the union.
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 6:45 pm
Teachers won’t be docked pay
Wednesday, 20, Oct, 2010 11:05AM
The Ministry of Education says as a sign of good faith, it won’t be docking teacher’s pay this week, despite strike action.
Around 16,000 teachers are today refusing to teach nearly 60,000 year nine student and will do the same with year 11′s tomorrow.
Education Workforce group manager, Fiona McTavish, says the PPTA has made it clear the union’s main priorities are class size, remuneration and no change to call back days. She’s urging the PPTA to cancel further planned strikes and get back to around the negotiation table.
So the MOE isn’t going to dock their pay so no penalty for withdrawing their labour. So just keep on going on strike. Bugger off to the beach and still get paid. HMMM sounds like the unemployment benefit at a rather higher rate.
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 7:05 pm
@Viking2 that was shock to everyone with Tolley said that on Breakfast. We fully expected, as you should, that our pay would be docked for the time on strike. The word is that Tolley “misspoke” on Breakfast and the Ministry of Education had to very quickly work to cover her mistake.
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 7:08 pm
> HOW would performance pay be able to be set up in a public school system?
I’m failing to see why this is a difficult question. You do it in the same way you would in the real world, away from children.
You decide what the desired outcome is, target the teachers on it, then leave them to go about producing that outcome. You’ll soon figure out who the good and the bad ones are.
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 7:19 pm
@dion What are the desired outcomes? Everyone getting Excellence? That is not possible. Value added? If you have a top class it is very hard to add value. How do you compare schools? How to you compare classes within a school? How do you compare classes from year to year? Do you base it on the cohort? This years Year 11 cohort, nationally, is not as good as other years. Why should your pay be based on the really crazy mood swings of teenagers? How can you “make” them work? You can be the best teacher in the world but some students just don’t want to do the work.
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 7:23 pm
@dion Performance based pay is a good concept but in a school setting it is just to hard to make it fair and robust.
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 7:37 pm
Crumble – individuals may not do the work, however it’s hard to imagine that there wouldn’t be a correlation between the quality of the teaching and student results.
Agree that no measure is 100% fair – however few workers (including myself) who are on performance pay have all of their performance measures completely within their control – and most could argue that there’s a degree of unfairness in how their pay is determined. Unfortunately life isn’t fair.
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 7:51 pm
@dion But if a teachers pay is based on results, then one student not doing to work could have a huge affect.
I agree life can be unfair but that does not mean you have to put up with it or create things that make it more unfair than it has to be.
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 8:40 pm
I think the teachers’ strike has a lot to do with undermining National. It is a political protest as much as a wage protest. What a coincidence unionists came out to demonstrate today along with teachers. The trouble is both groups want rid of National and Labour back in because Labour can be manipulated.
Has Phil Goff commented yet?
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 8:41 pm
DPF, you seem to have forgotten that John Key’s aspiration was to reduce the wage gap between us and Aussie. So what is his plan? To offer a 0% wage increase for thousands of teachers. Yeah, that will do it. The base salary for a teacher is about $45k. To call that excessive and to say teachers are greedy is quite ironic…it’s obviously not the done thing for civil servants to aspire to higher incomes. On the other hand, CEO’s in the private sector can demand huge increases in their salaries – irrespective of performance – and that’s considered OK.
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 8:49 pm
Meanwhile, in Australia the teachers union is flaying the Aussie Government because it spends less (as a % of GDP) on schools than NZ does.
Maybe the teachers should be asking “What would drive a higher GDP in NZ, then the Government can give us more money and resources for schools in the long run.” Strikes and belligerency won’t help.
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 8:49 pm
Shhhhhh ross, don’t point out ‘closing the gap’ with Australia or being ‘aspirational’, it’s not the done thing. We are in a recession which the government is doing an amazing job of getting us through, don’t ask for a wage increase, just be glad you have a job.
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 9:01 pm
queenstfarmer:
As I pointed out, a private company has the potential to benefit in terms of increased revenue due to high performance from employees, so the money available for salaries has the potential to increase in return to reward employees or provide further incentives.
Public education cannot do this.
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 9:03 pm
Meanwhile, in South Australia, teachers have just gotten a 12% wage increase which will deliver many teachers an increase of 21% or more. It’s worth noting that this didn’t come about easily – the teachers had to fight for it.
http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-national/sa-teachers-win-12-pay-rise-20100210-nqa1.html
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 9:04 pm
KiwiGreg:
Care to expand on that, or are you content to just contribute the type of things to a discussion my Year 9s are still growing out of?
I mean, if a private school employing good teachers isn’t going to attract more students, and thus more money from fees, why do private schools exist in the first place, and seeing as they obviously do, why would they bother with hiring good teachers?
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 9:16 pm
DPF: having more students wanting to attend a public school because of good teachers (or rather high achievement rates, in which teachers play a huge role), and thus attracting more funding is a logical consequence, but there is still an inherent imbalance in the way it is funded. You argue for an increase in spending over time as the quality of teachers increase – but this means all parents will be paying the “same” amount, but some will be getting lucky and have a $100,000 valued teacher for their kids, and others will be getting a $40,000 value teacher. Granted, the same luck of the draw happens today, but at least the “same” contribution towards education gathers a service valued at the same dollar amount.
A fully private system would be more efficient in terms of paying for what you get. And while it would also eliminate a good proportion of “bad clients” that schools are forced to take on at the moment – those families that want no part of education and don’t value it, and who drag down the quality of the service schools provide to those who do want it – I shudder to think what would happen to our society if we allowed that to happen. Though I’d be interested to hear the scenarios.
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 9:20 pm
Also, I’m not part of the union, and haven’t been pressured to join or ostracized for it in the slightest.
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 9:21 pm
I haven’t noticed any citicism of CEO pay increases. I must have missed it. It’s strange how CEO’s can command double digit increases in pay while their companies’ profits fall.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10652903
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 9:26 pm
ross:
Private companies can do what they want as far as I’m concerned regarding salaries. If people don’t like it, don’t spend any money with that company. Simple.
Vote:October 20th, 2010 at 10:19 pm
Teaching should be regarded as a very well paid part-time job.
If they feel short of cash, they could always do another weekend job, or some work over the summer. Hell, lots of Kiwis are struggling along with two jobs.
Vote:October 21st, 2010 at 11:58 am
Crusader….My mate is a senior teacher and also works a couple of part time jobs too for extra coin…and because hes a live wire.
He delivered the NZ Herald by van every morning from 5am for over 25 years from the age of 15 then,when teaching full time, went to school and taught during the day. He also picked up odd jobs here and there. It can be done….if you are willing.
Vote:October 21st, 2010 at 4:45 pm
The PPTA presumes the general public sympathise with them. Big mistake. We don’t! The generation that make the decisions about who gets pay rises come from the era when many teachers were bullies. Pay back’s a bi.ch.
Also, why don’t the PPTA use some of the $8.9million they received in subscriptions last year to buy their members a laptop instead of asking the taxpayer?
Vote:October 21st, 2010 at 5:50 pm
queenstfarmer (118) Says:
October 20th, 2010 at 2:26 pm
@transmogrifier:
But there is still the problem that a school is stuck with a fixed pool for salaries
And businesses have an unlimited pool for salaries? Of course not. Economics is all about the allocation of resources, not saying “well we don’t have unlimited resources and that’s a problem”.
I do not think TM was saying that businesses have an unlimited pool for salaries but what they do have is the opportunity to increase revenues through better employee performance and bonusus and performacne pay are generally scaled around better profitability not a reallocation of resources as you claim. That is apart from CEO’s in NZ who seem to get substantive bonus payments no matter how poorly their companies perform.
Vote:October 22nd, 2010 at 8:57 pm
Ignorance is as ignorance does, as evidenced by this, quoted approvingly by DPF:
Actually, that’s known to be crap amongst educational professionals, but hey, let’s not allow facts to get in the way of a good slander, OK?
I can’t help but comment that the bully boys are out in force again.
Sad fuckers.
Vote: