Turei Metiria: State Sector Amendment Bill (No 3) — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee Third Reading 
Turei Metiria: State Sector Amendment Bill (No 3) — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:616;Page:12157] 
METIRIA TUREI (Green) 
: 
 The Greens will not be supporting the State Sector Amendment Bill (No 3). We were pleased to see the changes that were made to the bill in the Education and Science Committee because the bill as originally proposed was absolutely appalling. It was a very clear indication on the part of the Minister and the Government that they would bypass the collective agreement processes by the use of legislation. It is our view that the Government is using its position as a legislator to get out of its obligations as an employer. The Greens are entirely satisfied with the concept that those who are on strike are not paid for the time they are striking. In no way does our objection to this bill disrupt that fundamental tenet of the right to strike. But the whole of the bill in our view is stained with the intention of the Minster to avoid his obligations as an employer by the use of legislation to bypass the collective agreements that take so much time and effort for all the parties involved to work through. 
All credit must go to the select committee which took a great deal of care over the bill and took out some of its worst excesses. For example the Wages Protection Act now applies though the ministry had tried to avoid that legislation. There is now no ability for the commissioner to directly deduct money from schools’ operations grants—for being naughty schools—if they fail to inform the ministry of those teachers who are not on strike. Another example is that the bill originally proposed that the Minister would be able to extend the number of days in a school year to make up for those days where schools lost teaching time because of industrial action. The officials at the time tried very hard to argue that despite the fact that they wanted to extend the number of days so that teachers would be required to work longer if they did take industrial action the bill did not disturb the fundamental principle of the right to strike. That of course was ridiculous and the select committee did a very good job in taking out those provisions. 
But there remain some very serious concerns about the redundancy clauses in the bill and that for the Greens is one of the biggest issues. In our view those clauses are really about the Minister trying to remedy the worst effects of the network review school closure process that is currently under way. The network reviews are a huge community issue; there has been enormous outrage from all sectors. The community has worked very hard to prevent those unnecessary school closures and it has succeeded to some extent with the moratorium. But none the less there are still some closures set to proceed. This bill is an attempt to avoid the redundancy processes for those teachers in the schools likely to close. We do not believe that the Government is honouring its collective agreement with the teachers unions so we are opposed to that provision in particular. We consider it to be completely unfair that teachers will be forced to accept positions in new schools when they are directly affected by the closure of their school in situations where the Minister decides it is an equivalent employment position. 
In the current situation when schools merge jobs are guaranteed for teachers. Where there are school closures teachers are allowed to take redundancy if they choose not to take employment in other schools that are still operating. That is an important factor of the principle of choice for those who are employed. But this bill will change that process because it will mean that where there is a closure teachers will be forced to take equivalent positions rather than redundancy. 
This bill does not consider the process and the decisions around what is an equivalent position. Teachers choose to work in a particular school because of the culture of that school its philosophy its staff and its management structure. That is a crucial decision that teachers as employees make when they choose where they go to work. This bill eliminates that choice. It undermines the good-faith bargaining that underpins the whole process around collective employment agreements. 
The Greens will not support a bill that is as anti-teacher as this bill.