Change of role for Teacher Aide (Upper Hutt Leader 13/5/2009)

Staff and students at Upper Hutt College have known Beverley Johnston for eight years as a teacher aide, but what they probably don’t know is that this month she’ll be moonlighting as a tough talking negotiator.
Beverley has been chosen to be on the negotiating team for the education sector union NZEI, during pay talks with the government on a new pay deal for school support staff.

She has been an active member of NZEI for several years but this will be her first experience as a negotiator.

“I felt like I wanted to be involved and by being on the negotiating team I will gain better knowledge about my rights and then share them with other support staff in the area,” says Beverley.

This round of negotiations is critical and aimed at delivering fair pay and job security for thousands of low paid school support staff, she says. They work at the frontline of education in roles such as teacher aides, librarians and office and admin staff yet some earn only marginally above the minimum wage of $12.50.

School support staff were promised a pay jolt by the Labour government last year and as Beverley says, they want to see the National government provide the extra money needed to negotiate it into reality.

She says “support staff are the backbone of a school in so many different areas such as IT, library, the office, special needs units, and classrooms. They are professionals in their own right and need to be paid fairly for the work they do.”