When charter schools were introduced to Aotearoa New Zealand in 2013, all charter schools were brand new schools and PPTA Te Wehengarua policy was not to cover teachers in them. PPTA’s constitution provides only for coverage of teachers in state and state-integrated schools.
This time, the legislation for charter schools enables the conversion of state schools to charter schools and enables the Minister to force state schools to convert to charter schools. This would mean that, unless the constitution was changed, teachers in converted charter schools would lose membership and their terms and conditions of employment would be put at risk.
Chris Abercrombie, PPTA Te Wehengarua president, says the critical difference between 2013 and 2024 is that if a state or integrated school converts to a charter school there would be teachers who would be taken unwillingly out of PPTA coverage.
“When charter schools are established, employers will be able to ‘negotiate’ alternative terms and conditions with members once charter schools are established. However, negotiation is likely to be very one-sided if the teachers do not have union support.
“While our primary objective continues to be to stop the development of charter schools in Aotearoa New Zealand, and return any that are established back into state schools, we believe the Association should be able to continue to cover members if a state or integrated school is converted.
“This will allow our field officers to continue to represent those members in the workplace and for the potential to negotiate site agreements on their behalf until the schools can be returned to the state system and the members can return to coverage by the national collective agreement.
“Today’s decision by Annual Conference means that PPTA Te Wehengarua decides who can be members, not the Associate Education Minster and his hand-picked authorisation board.”