From nurses to teachers, tens of thousands of workers have walked off the job today in a coordinated “mega-strike” across New Zealand.
Thousands marched down Auckland’s Queen St with other rallies across the North Island, but with red weather warnings curtailing events in Wellington and the South Island.
The industrial action includes teachers, doctors, health workers, and other public sector workers who are demanding better pay and improved working conditions.
Many schools are closed, and non-emergency medical procedures have been delayed.
Public Service Minister Judith Collins has labelled the planned action as “politically motivated” and insisted the Government had acted in good faith in negotiations.
At Nelson Hospital, striking health workers were recalled back to work after power disruption earlier this morning.
“We have a crisis management protocol that we’ve been working on with the hospital for the last three weeks, PSA organiser Toby Beesley said.
“That’s part of the strike action. They asked us for more staff, and we immediately agreed to that. Our first priority is the safety of the community.”
Public services workers across health, education and other sectors protest over pay and conditions. (Source: 1News)
Health NZ executive regional director Pete Watson said: “A backup battery kept critical systems running during the outage, and no patients were impacted. I want to acknowledge the efforts of staff who worked to keep patients safe during this time.”
Beesley said the backup battery powered some parts of the hospital, such as emergency lighting, but that other functions were heavily disrupted.
He said that period lasted for 45 minutes.
Protests and rallies are taking place across much of the North Island.
In Auckland, delays are expected across the roading network in the city centre as strike marchers made their way from Aotea Square to the downtown area. Auckland Transport warned of delays and possible cancellations to some CBD bus services.
What is the Government doing in response to strike?
Government ministers have gone on the offensive over the mega strike in the past week.
Anaesthetist Ted Hughes and art teacher Paul Stevens spoke to Breakfast about today’s strike. (Source: Breakfast)
Collins, the Public Service Minister, argued that the Government needed to manage its finances responsibly amid tight budgets and growing demands.
Health Minister Simeon Brown labelled strike action by medical professionals as “crossing an ethical line”, and suggested doctors were hurting patients.
Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche has also been adamant publicly that the strikes were unwarranted and unjustified.
“I regret that outcome for New Zealanders, especially as I thought progress could have been made on bargaining – disappointingly, the unions didn’t see it that way,” he said.
“As we navigate our way through this, I am also reflecting on what, if anything, we can learn from the private sector. There haven’t been major strikes, and most settlements have been at lower rates than what’s currently on offer in the public sector.”
He urged the unions to “come back to the table” to “negotiate a reasonable solution”.
An estimated 100,000 workers were expected to partake in the multi-sector mega strike. (Source: 1News)
