50,000 teachers strike in New Zealand

Around 50,000 teachers in New Zealand went on strike on Thursday, after union talks with the Ministry of Education aimed at improving salaries and conditions stalled.

Teachers demanding better pay waved placards declaring “can’t afford the dentist” and “too poor to print good signs” as the one-day strike forced kindergartens as well as primary and secondary schools to close across the country.

Trade unions argued that the government’s latest pay offer did not match inflation and that the education sector is at a “crisis point” due to teacher shortages.

“A quality education is a fundamental human right,” Chris Abercrombie from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association said.

“Tragically, as teachers we are seeing that right being slowly, and surely, undermined.”

Improvements to teacher salaries and working conditions are essential to keep experienced staff and recruit graduates, he said.