In support of our teachers

Tomorrow, New Zealand’s primary and intermediate teachers are going out on strike for the first time in 24 years. They are seeking greater pay rises than the Ministry of Education has proposed, as well as more non-teaching time to reduce burnout. They’re worth every cent they’re asking for—that’s not in dispute. The question, as always, is where will the money come from?

The video above from the NZEI, the teachers’ union, puts the current reality for teachers into sharp focus: Fewer people are training to become teachers, which will inevitably lead to shortages of New Zealand-born and trained teachers—especially when we factor in the teachers leaving the profession due to low pay.

The government says it has no more money this budget year, but they promise to make progress on making up for nine years of neglect under the previous National Party-led government. I have no doubt they will. But in the meantime, our education sector remains in crisis.

I’m a strong backer of unions—I was in one for a time, after all. However, this is the second high profile strike after nurses went on strike last month. Those are two areas that National cut funding for when it was in government (a fact they continue to deny, using weasel words to explain away the falling funding brought about by moving shells around). However, there’s something that really bothers me: Why NOW?

National was in power for nine years and they cut finding for both education and nurses, yet the unions didn’t strike. Why not? It was probably reasonable to fear retaliation, but had they gone on strike then, they may have been able to prevent some of the damage the National government’s underfunding caused.

By striking now, so early in the Labour Party-led government, they help reinforce the news media pundits’ narrative of the new government being incompetent and unable to govern. Had they waited as much as a year, of course, it would have already been in the run-up to the next election, and that would be worse.

So, my complaint is really just why didn’t they strike under National when it could have helped prevent so much damage?

Nevertheless, as I said, they deserve every cent they’re asking for—and far more. I hope they get what they want, and soon. But I also hope they don’t damage the government too much in the process, because the harsh reality is that they’ll do far better under a Labour-led government than under one run by National—although, Labour does have to prove that. I hope they do prove it.

The video above screened on TV tonight; I don’t know if it was a one-off or part of a larger campaign. But I think it’s very effective and deserves to be seen.