BY CHRISTINE BERESFORD
WELLINGTON, New Zealand -Kindergarten teachers and their supporters rallied throughout the country on May 1. The May Day rallies, originally organized as a national protest over inadequate funding for early childhood education, took place under the cloud of a sudden government attack on the employment conditions of kindergarten teachers.

Acting under "urgency" in order to avoid public consultation and debate, the government pushed through legislation removing kindergarten teachers from coverage by the State Services Commission. The teachers will now have to negotiate employment contracts with more than 30 individual kindergarten associations across the country, rather than nationally with the State Services Commission, as do all other teachers.

About 20 angry kindergarten teachers were ejected from Parliament's public gallery after they protested the passage of the new law. Lisa Terreni, a kindergarten teachers spokesperson, said of the new law, "It's a complete slap in the face for kindergarten teachers."

Currently, public kindergartens in New Zealand are free, and teachers in them are required to meet government training standards. Both wages and educational requirements are lower for early childhood workers in the private sector.

Cathie Wylie, a senior researcher at the New Zealand Council for Educational Research, predicts that kindergartens in some low-income and rural areas will be forced to close. She noted that the public kindergartens are used by a high proportion of low income families, particularly Maori.

The May 1 protest on Parliament grounds in Wellington was attended by several hundred teachers, parents, children, and union leaders. It was followed by a candlelight vigil at a nearby park where there was a symbolic burning of a coffin representing the free kindergarten movement.

Teachers unions have vowed to continue protest leading up to the government's presentation of its budget in July.

Teachers plan to fight for a collective contract covering all the kindergarten associations.

Christine Beresford is a member of the United Food, Beverage and General Workers Union.  
 
 
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