NZEI Stop Work Meeting

Important Notice:

Dear Parent/Caregiver

The school has been advised by the NZEI Te Riu Roa that it is holding a Paid Union Meeting for teachers on Wednesday 14th November. Accordingly, the majority of the school’s teaching staff will be unavailable after 1:00pm on that date.

NZEI is the union that represents primary teachers, primary principals and support staff.  Under the Employment Relations Act, paid union meetings are a legal entitlement to discuss union business.

The meetings are part of a national initiative to seek feedback from teachers about their employment agreement and the Government’s public education policies which NZEI believes will have a negative effect on teaching and learning.

In our experience, NZEI calls paid union meetings infrequently and only when it believes that there is urgent and important business to discuss with its members.   NZEI is particularly concerned that the Government appears to be moving towards the privatisation of education and the introduction of a competitive model of schooling and teaching.  Other countries that have adopted this model have seen a decline in their overall educational achievement ranking.

I encourage you to either keep your child at home or make some other arrangements for the duration of the meeting. However, if you are sending your child to school at this time an alternative programme will be provided for her / him for the duration of the meeting. We apologise for any potential disruption to you and your child's routine on the day of the meeting.

Thank you for your cooperation and assistance.