Bay teachers protest education policies

 More than 600 Bay of Plenty teachers have swarmed onto Tay St beach to
publicly protest the Government's education policies.

The teachers have come to the beach from a paid union meeting at Baypark,
where they discussed progress on the negotiations for their collective teachers'
agreement. The agreement covers about 27,000 teachers nationwide.

A Bay of Plenty Times reporter at the beach said the teachers were laying down
protest slogans on the beach with one saying ``No to Novopay''

A part-time teracher at Mount Primary Kylie Turner said it was a huge turnout
an d it was fantastic to see so many teachers taking part.

An NZEI union spokesperson said teachers were concerned that the
Government's education policies, including Novopay and Charter Schools, will
destroy New Zealand's highly valued quality public education system.

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