Chris Abercrombie: PPTA President on secondary school teachers going on strike

Secondary teachers aren't backing down from their fight for better pay.

Thousands of teachers walked off the job today and picketed across the country. 

They say a proposed one percent pay rise is actually a cut in real terms - and concerns on staffing, professional development and support aren't addressed. 

PPTA President Chris Abercrombie says he hopes that'll be the end of action, and the Government will come to the table.

He says Minister Erica Stanford's signalled interest in improvement. 

"Erica's come out and said she wants a world-class education system, and we want the same. So there's definitely common ground there, but it's just about how we get to that space."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Either duple Cy Ellen, as you probably know full well
if you've got a teenager in the house right now.
The secondary school teachers have been on strike today, picketing
around the country, included outside Erica Stanford's office. The PPTA
president Chris Abercrombie has been out there too, and he's
with us.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Hello, Chris good.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
In the teachers versus Erica Stanford battle, I think that
Erica probably wins the public support.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
What do you think, Ah, well, I wouldn't say it's
a battle, to be honest.

Speaker 3 (00:25):
I say, we just want to make sure that we
can get the best for public education. Erica has come
out and said, you know, she wants a world class
education system.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
We want the same.

Speaker 3 (00:34):
So there's definitely common ground there, but it's just about
how we get to that space.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
Do you do you think I mean, it's been a
while now since you announced the strike, do you think
public have swung in behind you or not?

Speaker 3 (00:44):
Oh? Absolutely, we believe that. You know, we just needed
to see the support today. We had on various pickets,
heaps of two en heaps of on online, heaps in person.
You know, parents know what we're doing and we're know
why are we're doing it, so we definitely think we've
got the support.

Speaker 1 (00:59):
Great. So when's the next strike.

Speaker 3 (01:01):
Well, hopefully we won't need to have one, but we
do have some rostering home scheduled for the last week
of this term, the fifteenth of September onwards. We're really
hopeful we don't need to do that and that the
government comes to the party. We're meeting next week for bargaining,
so we're just really hopeful that we won't need to
do that. Industrial Action need to.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
Chris, Thank you very much. Chris Abercrombie, a PPTA president.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
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