Secondary Teachers Stand for Safety in the Classroom Backed by CTU

Council of Trade Unions president Ross Wilson told delegates at the PPTA conference in Wellington this afternoon that they had the CTU’s full support in their stand for safety in the classroom.

“The CTU supports your strong stand on teacher safety. You have the right, as all workers do, to work in a safe and healthy environment,” Ross Wilson told  delegates today.

“I am pleased that you are able to make use of the provisions in the Employment Relations Act and the 2004 amendments to the Health and Safety in Employment Act which we all worked so hard to put in place.”

“The sad reality is that students can be serious hazards, and that the right to refuse dangerous work applies equally in the classroom as it does in any other workplace.”

The CTU supported the PPTA’s proposals around further work in restorative practises in schools, peer mediation and alternative education, and it was important to recognise the social consequences of poverty and alienation that led to behaviour problems at school, Ross Wilson said.