Union meetings abound as teachers weigh up industrial action over pay dispute

<h2>Due to the urgent need to attract and retain teachers&comma; and ensure children have the education they need&comma; NZEI Te Riu Roa’s National Executive decided that teachers and principals would vote at upcoming union meetings on whether to accept the Ministry of Education’s offer&comma; or reject it&period;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>Meetings began on Monday and will continue for two weeks&period; The Ministry&&num;8217&semi;s pay rise offer ranges from 2&period;2 to 2&period;6 percent a year for three years for most primary school teachers&period; The figure is far less than the 16 percent over two years that teachers felt would be required to adequately resolve the shortage&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Principals and teachers will also vote on nationwide half-day work stoppages from 1&colon;30-4&colon;30pm on 15 August&comma; effectively causing school closures for a half-day&period; During the stoppages&comma; members will attend union meetings to consider any further developments or offers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Lead negotiator for primary teachers collective agreement Liam Rutherford said&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Members call the shots on this – it is up to teachers as to whether they accept the Ministry’s offer or reject it and take industrial action&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>Lead negotiator for the primary principal’s collective agreement Louise Green said&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;After a decade of neglect under the previous government&comma; there are significant issues facing education&comma; including a growing teacher shortage&comma; stress and workload problems&comma; and under-resourcing&period; Children with additional learning needs are not getting their needs met&period; Principals and teachers have these issues weighing heavily on their minds as they head to their union meetings&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>Voting will occur by secret ballot at paid union meetings of primary&comma; intermediate and kura teachers and principals across the country from 18-29th June&period; Dates and locations can be found <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;nzeimediareleases&period;cmail20&period;com&sol;t&sol;r-l-jyuyhjx-thhtttjjit-y&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">here<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;