Principals mull latest pay offer

Paid union meetings for primary and intermediate school teachers are underway, just days after a revised deal was put on the table. 

Lynda Stuart, president of the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI), says the deal is an improvement on what they've been offered before.

"This offer that they've come back with includes parity in the staffing levels, the decile rating and the role-based staffing."

Online voting begins on Thursday. 

Stuart says the offer is worth considering, and if teachers vote to accept it, they can move on.

"Most principals will see a catch-up increase of around 5 percent to get us into parity with secondary principals, then 2-3 percent increases over the next two years."

Stuart says further strikes are on the cards if it's a no, as previous strikes have shown success in getting the Ministry of Education to listen. 

"At every stage of this campaign, when our members have come together and taken collective action they have forced a response from the ministry. Principals said loud and clear that if parity was fair for teachers then surely it was fair for principals too. 

"Members will now have the chance to vote on an offer that includes parity."

The new offer includes one-off payments of $1500 to NZEI members and an annual $300,000 professional development fund for primary principals."

Newshub.