Strike action
Business rule / policy
- Union members covered by the strike notice are deemed by law to be on strike unless they are identified on the strike action screen as not striking.
What schools need to do
Schools need to identify the union members who are not striking and submit this information to Education Payroll via the strike action screen in EdPay. This will ensure non-striking employees are paid as usual and reduce the administrative load on schools.
Check and submit the strike action screen within two days of the strike day
Ideally, check the strike action screen on the day of the strike and submit it (even if there are no changes). If this is not possible, you must submit the strike action screen no later than 5pm on the first working day after the strike. If the page is not submitted by the school within this time, EdPay will submit it automatically and it may be inaccurate.
When will teachers’ pay be deducted?
After the strike screen closes, we will make deductions for time spent on strike in the current or next pay period, depending on where the strike day falls in the pay cycle.
For the strike action this week, we will make deductions in pay period 12, pay day 2 September 2025.
Instructions for completing the Strike Action screen
On the day of the strike, follow these instructions to:
- Check and confirm employees' participation in the strike, then
- Enter and submit strike action information.
Before you begin
The EdPay Strike Action screen will not auto save your changes, which means you will need to enter all the strike action information in one session.
We recommend that you print out the list of employees on the strike action page (Steps 1-3 below), then check and confirm each employee’s participation in the strike before you begin entering strike information.
1. Check and confirm employees' participation in the strike
| Step |
Action |
| 1 |
In EdPay, click on My School, then Administration. Select the Strike Action tab on the right.
|
| 2 |
The Strike Action screen shows the name of each union at your school and the day of the strike. Click on the arrow on the right.
The drop-down list will show the names of employees who are part of that collective and who have an active job on the day of the strike.
Employees who are on individual employment agreements will not be listed on the Strike Action screen.
|
| 3 |
Click all the arrows to open all the drop-down lists, then print the page.
Use this printout to confirm and note:
- which employees did not participate in the strike or were not working due to sickness or leave, and
- the usual hours (on the day of the strike) of part-time employees who did participate in the strike.
If there are non-union members on the Strike Action screen, you will need to change their status to No.
|
2. Enter and submit strike action information in EdPay
| Step |
Action |
| 1 |
In the EdPay Strike Action screen, open the first drop-down list. In the Participated in Strike column, each employee will automatically be set to Yes. The part-time hours worked field will only show for part-time employees.
|
| 2 |
Use this diagram to check and, if required, update the Participated in Strike column and Usual Part-Time Hours Worked column for each employee on the list.
|
| 3 |
When you have checked all the employees in that collective agreement group, click the Submit button at the bottom of the drop-down list.
Note: The Submit function will not work until you have entered all the required part time hours.
|
| 4 |
Repeat for each collective agreement drop-down list for the day of the strike on the Strike Action screen. Click the Submit button for each one, even if you have not made any changes to the screen.
|
| 5 |
Make sure all the collectives’ drop-down lists are open on the page, then print the Strike Action screen.
|
| 6 |
Short-term relievers will not be listed on the Strike Action screen. Please submit a SUE report corrections / advice of changes (EP31) form with the names and hours of any short-term relievers who:
- are union members, and
- were booked to work at your school on the day of the strike, and
- participated in the strike.
Note: Please do not submit a timesheet for the hours they were on strike.
|
| 7 |
Ask your principal to sign the printout of the Strike Action screen and, if required, the EP31 form. File the documents in your school’s official records.
|
| 8 |
The Strike Action screen cannot be edited in EdPay after you have submitted it. If you need to make changes after submitting, please:
- wait until the relevant SUE report is available
- complete an EP31 form with the required changes
- send us the EP31, with STRIKE in the subject line.
|
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Frequently asked questions
When do I need to submit my information?
You have two business days to submit your information:
Do employees who take part in the strike get paid?
No, their pay will be deducted for their time spent at the strike action.
What if an employee does not want to take part?
If an employee is a union member, they are expected to take part in the strike action that was balloted for. Schools cannot ask union members to come in to work.
What if an employee who is not a union member takes part in the strike action?
The Ministry’s advice is that employees who are not part the striking union should not take part in the strike action. If a non-union member takes part in the strike action, the time should be booked as Leave Without Pay (LWOP).
What if a member of a union not balloted to strike appears on the Strike Action screen?
If an employee is listed on the Strike Action screen but they are not a member of the striking union, their status should be set to No. If they participate in the strike this should be booked as Leave Without Pay (LWOP).
What if a part-time teacher takes part in the strike action, which is on a day they don’t usually work?
If a part-time teacher takes part in the strike action but it is not a day they would normally work, then you can either enter No next their name in the Strike Action screen or enter 0 in the part-time hours column. There will be no deductions from their pay as they were not employed to work on that day.
What do I need to do for the strike action?
Refer to the guidance sent to schools’ boards by the Ministry.
For payroll, you will need to check and submit the information for your employees in the strike action screen in EdPay on the day of the strike or the next working day.
What happens if a school does not enter their strike action details into EdPay?
If a school does not submit their strike action details into EdPay, it will default to assuming that all teachers who are union members have taken part in the strike action, and their pay will be deducted accordingly.
What if I want to make changes after I have submitted the information in EdPay?
Please check your employee’s details carefully before submitting the Strike Action screen. Changes cannot be made in EdPay once the details are submitted.
If you need to make changes after submitting, please wait until the SUE report is available, and then send an EP31 form for any changes required.
When will the deduction for time spent on strike be made from teachers' pay?
The strike deduction for the 20 August strike will made in pay period 12, payday 2 September 2025.
How is the strike action deduction calculated?
All employees have their annual salary and allowances broken down into an hourly rate over a 40-hour week (annual rate divided by 365 for the daily rate, then divided by eight for the hourly rate).
Full-time teachers who are participating in the strike, will have eight hours’ salary deducted and any allowances due.
Part-time employees who do not hold an allowance who strike for less than (or equal) to their flattened hours can be processed via leave booking. Those that strike for greater than their flattened hours or who hold an allowance will be processed via timesheet.
Leave Booking example:
An employee with an FTE of 40% who normally works for 2 hours on the day of strike will have the following calculation:
Flattened hours = FTE * 8
= 40% * 8
= 3.2
Normal hours worked = 2 (Normal hours worked less than flattened hours so processed via leave booking)
Leave booking = Normal hours worked / Flattened Hours
= 2 / 3.2
= 0.625 day booking
| Part-time employee strikes for 2 hours |
|
|
| Daily salary |
208.079 |
|
| Hourly rate |
26.00993 |
|
| FTTE |
40% |
|
| Normal hours worked |
2 |
|
| Normal pay |
83.23178 |
Daily salary * FTE |
| Strike cost |
52.01986 |
Hourly rate * Hours normally worked |
| Net pay based on above |
31.21192 |
Normal pay – Strike cost |
Timesheet example:
An employee with an FTE of 20% who normally works for 2 hours on the day of strike will have the following calculation:
Flattened hours = FTE * 8
= 20% * 8
= 1.6
Normal hours worked = 2 (Strike hours greater than flattened hours so processed via timesheet)
Strike cost = Hourly rate * Normal hours worked
= $21.893 * 2
= $43.787
This will be processed as the amount on the timesheet with units as -1.
Timesheets will be created for each GL String an employee has – including all their allowances. If an employee has for example 5 different GL strings across their salary and allowances then there will be 5 timesheet records created to process the Strike and apportion it correctly.
| Part-time employee strikes for 2 hours |
|
|
| Daily salary |
175.148 |
|
| Hourly rate |
21.8935 |
|
| FTTE |
20% |
|
| Normal hours worked |
2 |
|
| Normal pay |
35.0296 |
Daily salary * FTE |
| Strike cost |
43.787 |
Hourly rate * Hours normally worked |
| Net pay based on above |
-8.7574 |
Normal pay – Strike cost |
How will the deduction appear on payslips and SUE reports?
The above deduction methods will be displayed differently within Payslips and SUE reports. These are explained below.
Example 1 – Full-Time Teacher
Full-time employee who participated in the strike is shown below, where the employee does not receive any pay for the day of the strike.
Payslip example
SUE report employee summary
Example 2 – Part-time teacher where the hours they would have normally worked on the day of the strike are less than their average hours
In the example below, the school specified that the employee would normally have worked 3 hours.
For fortnightly pay purposes the employee has been set up at FTTE of 40%. This equates to 3.2 hours (8 hours * 40%).
Therefore, a partial leave booking will be processed.
Payslip example
SUE report employee summary
SUE report extract in respect of a part-time employee where strike hours are less than average work hours:
Example 3 – Part-time teacher where the hours they would have normally worked on the day of the strike are greater than average hours
In the example below, the school specified that the employee would normally have worked 5 hours.
For fortnightly pay purposes the employee has been set up at FTTE of 60%. This equates to 4.8 hours (8 hours * 60%).
As the employee’s strike hours are greater than the average hours, a deduction to salary has been processed. Where the employee has allowances or multiple funding sources, multiple adjustments are required. This results in multiple deductions as below.
Payslip example
The timesheet deductions incorrectly inflates the strike days. This is repeated for each Salary / Allowance / Funding adjustment made.
Please note that the deductions for Strike still remains correct and is calculated as follows:
5 Hours Salary = (90,000 annual salary /365 days) / 8 hours per day * 5 hours Strike = 154.11
5 Hours Allowance = (5,000 Annual value /365 days) / 8 hours per day * 5 hours Strike = 8.56
SUE report employee summary
SUE report extract in respect of a part-time employee where strike Hours are less than average work hours is below.
The multiple adjustments results in the incorrect display of units, even though the $ deduction amount remains correct.
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