Planned Teachers’ Strike – Wednesday 29th May 2019

Primary school teachers plan to strike on Wednesday 29th May 2019.

This will impact on Playcentre in 2 ways:

– parents with primary school enrolled children will have them home, and are unable to bring them to Playcentre

– where one or more of those parents also act as the ‘Person Responsible’ for your session, then the session would be unable to open

Suggested options are:

– finding someone else who can cover the necessary qualifications who can attend that day (be it a parent who would attend another day, or a paid reliever – please note all relievers must be on a NZPF contract, check with your Centre Support Coordinator if you are unsure who this is in your area)

– taking a trip, with the usual supervision requirements met, then also one or two adults assigned to supervise the primary school children. These adults should be additional to the ratios required for the trip.

– holding a special event at the centre that day, note that all primary school children would need to have their parents or caregivers present at all times and be closely supervised

– Closing the centre for the day.

Employment impacts:

– if you have a centre paid for NZPF employee on sessions, and they are unable to attend, due to having their primary-school children with them, they will need to take leave (either annual or unpaid) for that day.

– if your centre decides to close due to having too many families staying away that day, but your employed person was planning to work (i.e. they don’t have primary school children or have other care for them and were not going to take leave), then they must be paid for the day as if it was worked. This also applies to any cleaners or other staff who would usually work on this day, but cannot due to centre being closed. These individuals should include this day on their timesheet as unworked due to centre closure, but due to be paid as a usually worked day.

– Relief casuals, if you need to get a relief casual in to cover for a parent/employee who cannot be on session, they must have a casual contract with NZPF and this includes being safety checked previously. If you are unsure who has a casual contract please contact your Centre Support Coordinator.