Swings + Roundabouts Summer 2020

2020 is nearly over, and what a tumultuous year it has been. At the beginning of the year we knew the big event for the year would be a General Election. Labour were doing fairly well and had confirmed the Early Learning Action Plan (ELAP). And there was talk of some movement on the Teacher Pay Parity issue. Then along came COVID. And lockdowns. And Wages Subsidies. And the whole world seemed to go nuts! Now the election is over, delivering the Labour party a clear majority and mandate, we certainly have a clear idea of what to expect in the next three years policy-wise, factoring in the COVID-related challenges. Now, as we approach the end of the year, I’m very much focussed on centre survival, and the myriad of issues and challenges facing centre owners and governance committees. Some of these issues and challenges are positive for our sector and some not so. The wider economic challenges we all face include: ● ● A new government “Business Hiring Package” designed to support businesses to grow their staff at a time when the bottom line might suggest otherwise. Also, the Ministry of Education (MoE) have advised they are re-directing funding tagged for recruiting overseas ECE- trained teachers to the domestic market, presumably to attract qualified teachers who previously chose to move on to other things, back into our sector. While overseas-trained teachers are not the solution to the teacher shortage, it was a helpful move that a few centres benefited from. That was until the officials at Immigration New Zealand got involved and made it incredibly hard to bring any talent into the country to work at a centre in Auckland or for wages the sector could afford. Nevertheless, this Business Hiring Package is worth exploring, as well as the incentives offered in support of domestic recruitment from the MoE. ● ● The Labour-led government has continued the trajectory of increasing the Minimum Wage, and its support for the Living Wage. In both cases, increases have a clear ripple effect on the expected earnings of staff within ECE, with no corresponding increase in subsidy rates. While our sector is totally private, it is nevertheless subsidised by government. Were that not the case, we would have one primary source of income – parents. A totally unrealistic expectation. Hence, ECE is subsidised. With that comes a responsibility that when government change rules that increase costs, a complimentary increase in subsidy levels is expected. Yet to happen, and this is certainly a focus for us. ● ● Pay Equity and Pay Parity are the two latest crazes to hit our sector. Pay Equity is a gender issue and is being pushed along by Labour’s Equal Pay Amendment Act. It’s about teachers getting a pay level equitable to other male-dominated professions of similar value. Pay Parity, meanwhile, is about ECE teachers, doing the same job, being paid the same. It comes back to the subsidy difference being paid by government to kindergartens versus centres. Labour has started the journey, with an increase for the lowest-paid teachers and the promise of more to come in subsequent budgets. With movement on this issue finally happening, we now need to have patience while the government’s plan unfolds – but we’re keen to see some detail soon now the election dust has settled. ● ● The government has promised to review the Holidays Act in order to simplify the requirements. This has been widely welcomed, but we wait to see the detail. Meanwhile, Labour has also promised to increase worker’s minimum sick leave entitlement by increasing from five to ten days. Many centres already offer ten days, while those who do not will notice the financial hit. MESSAGE CEO's December 2020 { 8 }