New Zealand ‘mega strike’: 100,000 public sector workers demand better conditions

An estimated 100,000 nurses, teachers and public sector staff walked off the job in New Zealand on Thursday to call on the government to better fund and resource public services, in one of the country’s largest ever strikes. The so-called “mega strike” brought together workers from multiple sectors, including more than 60,000 school teachers, 40,000 nurses and salaried medical specialists and 15,000 public service staff. ... Tens of thousands gathered at rallies across the country, where they held signs, chanted and demanded the government invest in education and health. “Patients should not have to be harmed, or die, before things improve,” Becks Kelsey, a nurse, told a rally in Auckland. “We demand the government invests in the very fabric of our community, not cut the threads that hold it together.” ... Members from multiple unions voted to strike after collective bargaining with the coalition government stalled. While each union has demands specific to their sector, the complaints were broadly consistent: inadequate pay, unsafe staffing levels, not enough resources, and poor working conditions that put the wellbeing of workers, patients and children at risk. “We fear for the safety of our patients,” Noreen McCallan, a nurse in Hawke’s Bay, said in a statement. “Staff shortages have become overwhelming and exhausting for many of us. Our patients are suffering longer because we can’t get to them as quickly as we should.” ... Hospitals have reported facing “catastrophic failure” due to being over capacity, lengthy wait times for care and staff shortages. Schools are also facing staffing shortfalls. At the same time, the government has slashed funding for public services in its hope to grow the economy and cancelled dozens of pay equity claims. Meanwhile, citizens are leaving the country in record numbers, the majority of whom are moving to Australia for more job opportunities and better pay. ... The coalition government has been hostile towards the protest, with the prime minister, Christopher Luxon, dismissing it as “politically motivated” and senior ministers for education, health and public services calling it “unfair, unnecessary and unproductive”. ... A Talbot Mills poll suggested 65% of the public backed the strike, and nearly half of those who voted for the coalition government were also in favour. Opposition parties backed the strike, with the Labour leader, Chris Hipkins, laying responsibility for the industrial action on the prime minister. “Luxon is out of touch and making our health and education systems worse,” Hipkins said in a statement. “He has made his priorities clear: handing out massive pay rises to boardroom directors and millions to tobacco companies, instead of investing in the services we all rely on.”