Primary Teachers' Collective Agreement

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Primary Teachers' Collective Agreement 2023–2025 [PDF, 1.1 MB]

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Email: employment.relations@education.govt.nz.

Changes to the agreement

Read about the recent changes in the Primary Teachers' Collective Agreement.

Changes to the Primary Teachers’ Collective Agreement 2023-25

Part 7: Terms and Conditions of Service of Teachers in the Chatham Islands

Primary Teachers' Collective Agreement
Effective: 3 July 2023 to 2 July 2025

  • 7.1 House Rents
    • Ministry of Education | Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga house rentals for all teachers shall be based on the standard rural rent formula.

  • 7.2 Housing (Other)
    • Heavy furniture and blinds, as in the agreed schedule, plus garage/storeroom shall be provided for teacher households.  Storage costs shall be met by employing Boards as an official expense for household effects left on the mainland and for freight and effects forwarded back to the mainland before completion of employment on the Chatham Islands, with government bulk storage facilities used as appropriate.

  • 7.3 Fuel and Power
    • 7.3.1 Coal, diesel and gas shall be provided free of charge.

      7.3.2 Teachers shall pay the cost of their domestic electricity consumption depending on the size of their household. This shall be up to the following maximums:

      Household SizeMaximum Annual Payment
      1 person $472.93
      2-4 persons $716.00
      5+ persons $803.97
        1. Where teacher households exceed the maximum domestic electricity consumption cost as provided for in paragraph 7.3.2 above, teachers shall be reimbursed the additional cost by their employing Board.
        2. The maximum domestic electricity consumption costs, as provided for above, shall be based on Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment data. The formula shall be based on the average mainland electricity consumption costed at 9.001 cents per unit and shall be expressed as follows:
          Household SizeAnnual Unit Consumption
          1 person $5,000
          2-4 persons $7,570
          5+ persons $8,500
        3. The unit price shall be updated as the mainland average changes.

      7.3.3 Teachers who are required to run the generator for both the school and their house will receive an allowance of $4.11 per day.

  • 7.4 Motor Vehicles
    • 7.4.1 All freight and landing charges shall be paid by employing Boards both ways.

      7.4.2 Teachers who transport their own vehicles to the Chatham Islands and Pitt Island shall receive an extra vehicle allowance of $2,739 per annum.

  • 7.5 Payment of Fares to Mainland for Annual Leave
    • Employing Boards shall pay actual or equivalent return air fares by normal air flights to enable teachers and their families to take annual leave on the mainland. For Pitt Island teachers the subsidy shall also cover the associated return air travel between Pitt Island and Chatham Island. This provision is based on the following conditions:

        1. That teachers shall become eligible for the subsidy on each anniversary of their arrival in the Chathams;
        2. Teachers may anticipate subsidised leave trips at the Christmas term break if appointed during the school year and may also defer subsidised leave trips until the Christmas break following the completion of a year’s school service;
        3. All family members shall be eligible for the subsidised passage but shall not be required to take them together at the same time;
        4. A passage order for the full return fare is to be issued to the teacher or the relevant airline(s). This shall also cover the case of Pitt Island teachers travelling between Pitt Island and Chatham Island in order to travel to the mainland;
        5. Teachers are encouraged to take at least a two-week vacation on the mainland whenever a subsidy is paid;
        6. Where teachers and/or family members elect not to utilise their subsidised passage, this instead, subject to the approval of the employer, shall be able to be used to subsidise the return travel of a family/whanau member from the mainland;
        7. In addition to annual leave mainland travel, Pitt Island teachers shall be eligible for two return airfares between Pitt and Chatham Islands per annum which shall be based on the same premises as subclause (d) above;
        8. Subsidised leave passages must be used within a year of their becoming due; if not they are forfeited.
  • 7.6 Secondary Schools Allowance
    • The secondary school allowance shall be based on the following conditions:

      1. Standard boarding bursary;
      2. A boarding bursary for the term breaks, excluding December/January, if the pupils do not return to the Chathams for those periods;
      3. The cost of return air fares for the four term breaks;
      4. The cost of internal travel between airport and the child’s school for the December/January period only;
      5. For pupils' resident on Pitt Island, free passage between Pitt and Chatham Islands at the beginning and end of each school term.
  • 7.7 Chatham Islands Allowance
    • 7.7.1 The allowance shall be:

        Basic Rate 
       Basic Rate ($)Plus Partner ($)Child Supplement (per child) ($)
      Isolation $806.56 $1613.11  
      Freight* $2662.42 $4119.96 $665.64

      *The Freight component will be adjusted to reflect actual costs of the freight component provided in 7.7.2.

      7.7.2

          1. The freight component, as provided for in subclause 7.7.1 above, shall be based on the following:
       Basic Rate($)Plus Partner($)
      Shipping Chatham duties, etc

      Freight forwarders

      Airfreight
      $1,058.93

      $211.89

      $404.49

      $372.70
      $1,345.61

      $269.23

      $808.98

      $745.39
      Sub Total

      Tax Reimbursement
      $2,048.00

      $614.43
      $3,169.20

      $950.76
      Total $2,743.68 $4,119.96
        1. The Shipping Chatham duties, etc shall be calculated on the basis of 20% of the shipping freight cost.
        2. Freight forwarders shall be calculated on the basis of one cubic metre from the point of purchase to freight forwarders ($12.39) from freight forwarders to a port of embarkation ($28.00) at 10 times per annum for the basic rate. Two metres shall be the basis for the basic rate plus partner calculation.
        3. Air freight shall be calculated on the basis of its minimum charge of $14.95 per kilo, per fortnight (two kilos for the basic rate plus partner).
        4. Employing Boards may reimburse teachers for other freight costs additional to those provided for in paragraphs (a)-(d) above.

      7.7.3 The isolation component shall be adjusted annually according to movements in the isolation allowance.

      7.7.4 The freight component shall be adjusted according to actual movements in freight costs of shipping freight forwarders and air freight plus tax rate changes.

      7.7.5 Teachers on Pitt Island shall receive an additional freight component of $688.05 based on 12 flights per annum. This shall be adjusted according to actual cost movements by aviation.

  • 7.8 Chatham Islands Removal Expenses
    • 7.8.1 Teachers who are eligible for removal expenses under 6.1 of this Agreement shall be entitled to the provisions set out in Part 6. Where a service provided by the Ministry of Education | Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga for the transfer of their effects and transit insurance is not available, the teacher is eligible for the reimbursement of 100% of the actual and reasonable expenses arising from the transfer of their effects.

      7.8.2 All teachers are entitled to removal expenses after two full consecutive years of employment, whether in a relieving or permanent position, on the Chatham Islands.  Where exceptional personal reasons mean that a teacher is unable to complete the requisite two years, and where the Board supports the termination of the teachers' employment at the school, the Ministry of Education | Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga may choose, at its discretion, to cover half the costs of removal expenses provided that the teacher has worked for at least one full continuous year on the Chatham Islands.

  • 7.9 Eligibility
    • All teachers recruited from the mainland shall be eligible for these provisions as provided in clauses 7.1-7.8.  Teachers recruited locally from the Chatham and Pitt Islands shall also be eligible for the provisions of clauses 7.3, 7.6 and the isolation component of clause 7.7.1 and where that teacher leaves the island at the end of their employment for another position in the teaching service, that teacher shall be entitled to the provisions in clauses 7.4.1 and 7.7.2.

  • 7.10 Payment of Fares to Mainland for Professional Development
    • Employing Boards shall pay an actual or equivalent return air fare (not to exceed $2,000) by normal air flight for four permanent full-time teachers per annum for the purposes of professional development. The teachers shall become eligible for the subsidy on each anniversary of their arrival in the Chatham Islands.