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If you want to develop your listening skills, try these tasks as you listen to the text. The answers are at the bottom of this page, after the Vocabulary. Thanks to Natasha Groves for preparing the tasks.

If you want to listen and read, just scroll down to the text.

1. Listening for main ideas

First, just listen to the text, taking notes if you wish. What information can you catch during this first listening?

2. Now listen again and answer the following questions:

1. Why are secondary teachers going on strike this Wednesday?





2. When will nurses go on strike?





3. What pay rise has the Government offered to secondary teachers?





4. How many teachers is the country currently short of?





5. What will secondary students do on Wednesday?





6. Does the government support the strike?





7. What does the Education Minister want?





8. What has the Government ignored, according to the PPTA President?





9. What does the Nurses Organisation want? Why?





10. How much have nurses been offered by the Government?





11. What is the current rate of inflation?

Text

This Wednesday secondary school teachers will go on strike because of the low offer for a pay rise from the Government. Nurses will go on strike in early September.

The union for secondary school teachers, the Post-Primary Teachers Association (PPTA), and the Government are currently negotiating the new collective agreement for these teachers. The Government has offered a pay rise of 1 percent a year for three years, but the union rejected this offer and its members voted to strike. The PPTA President, Chris Abercrombie, has said that the offer is too low. He argues that secondary school teachers are not paid enough to attract and retain staff and that there is currently a shortage of about 800 teachers. He also says that if the proposed changes to NCEA are approved, it is important to retain experienced teachers to implement these changes. Consequently, these teachers will walk off the job this Wednesday, 20 August. That means that teachers who are members of this union will not work on Wednesday and will lose a day’s pay. Students will stay home unless there are special arrangements made by some schools. Teachers also plan to hold rolling strikes in September, when they will not teach certain year groups on certain days: years 12 and 13 on Monday 15 September, year 11 on Tuesday 16, year 10 on Wednesday 17, and year 9 on Thursday 18.

The Government is not happy that the union has called a strike. The Education Minister, Erica Stanford, said that the PPTA has not made any counteroffer or clarified what it wanted in the six days of bargaining that have been held. She wants the union to keep bargaining in good faith. However, the PPTA President says that they have been in discussions and negotiations for months so will only cancel the planned strikes if the government improves their pay offer. He also says that the Government has ignored other claims such as the need for more subject specialist advisers and for more pastoral care time and funding.

Nurses are also planning to go on strike from 7am to 11 pm on Tuesday, 2 September and Thursday, 4 September. Their union, the Nurses Organisation, is in bargaining with the Government and is particularly concerned about better nurse-to-patient ratios. Its members say that they are understaffed and overworked, so they want Health NZ to hire more staff. This year only 45 percent of nursing students who graduated in the middle of the year were hired by Health NZ, whereas the union said that in the past, 80 to 90 percent of all graduates were hired. In addition, they are unhappy with the offer of an immediate pay rise of 2 percent, followed by 1 percent next year. This week nurses in some areas are taking local action such as wearing t-shirts saying ‘Not Enough Nurses’ instead of uniforms.

Both of these pay offers are below the current rate of inflation, which is 2.7 percent. That means that the pay for these jobs would not keep up with inflation. Furthermore, nurses and teachers are two professions which had their pay equity claims cancelled by the government’s change to the pay equity law in May. For more background on this, listen to Sudden change to pay equity law.

Vocabulary

go on strike – to stop working for a period of time because of a disagreement over pay and conditions between a group of workers and their employer

union – an organisation formed by workers to protect their rights

negotiate – to discuss something in order to reach an agreement

a collective agreement – a formal agreement between an employer and a trade union. The agreement states the conditions of employment such as wages and hours which the employer and union have agreed on.

counteroffer – an offer made in response to another offer

in good faith – when a person or organisation intends to be honest and does not intend to deceive anyone

cancel – to stop something, to decide that something official that was planned will not happen

pastoral – relating to the work of a teacher giving help and advice on personal matters, such as wellbeing, physical, emotional and mental health, rather than education and schoolwork

uniform – a particular type of clothing worn by all the members of a group or organisation, such as nurses, police. Some schools also have uniforms for their students.

inflation – a continuing increase in prices, or the rate at which prices increase

pay equity – when women and men are paid the same for work that is different but that has the same or a similar level of skill, responsibility, and effort

Answers – you don’t have to write a complete sentence as long as you have the key idea in your answer

a. Why are secondary teachers going on strike this Wednesday?

Because of the low offer for a pay rise

b. When will nurses go on strike?

In early September

c. What pay rise has the Government offered to secondary teachers?

1 percent a year for three years

d. How many teachers is the country currently short of?

About 800 teachers

e. What will secondary students do on Wednesday?

Students will probably stay home unless there are special arrangements made by some schools

f. Does the government support the strike?

No

g. What does the Education Minister want?

She wants the union to keep bargaining in good faith

h. What has the Government ignored, according to the PPTA President?

Other claims such as the need for more subject specialist advisers and for more pastoral care time and funding.

i. What does the Nurses Organisation want? Why?

They want Health NZ to hire more staff; they say that they are understaffed and overworked

j. How much have nurses been offered by the Government?

An immediate pay rise of 2 percent, followed by 1 percent next year

k. What is the current rate of inflation?

2.7 percent