The Government has gone on the offensive ahead of a planned mega-strike expected to involve around 100,000 workers this Thursday, with Public Service Minister Judith Collins publishing an open letter to New Zealanders.
The multi-sector strike will see teachers, nurses, and other public sector workers walk off the job, demanding better pay, safer staffing levels, and improved working conditions.
Collins, the Public Service Minister, issued a media release earlier this morning, setting the Government’s tone for the week ahead, decrying “unfair and unwarranted” action and saying the strikes appeared to be “politically motivated by the unions”.
“To the patients, students and families affected by this week’s planned strike, the Government regrets the impact on you, your children and your families,” she wrote.
In saying the strikes were “politically motivated”, Collins pointed to the number one item on the agenda for a meeting between Education Minister Erica Stanford and the secondary teachers’ union being Palestine.
“Not terms and conditions. Not student achievement. Not the new curriculum. Palestine. That’s not what students or parents should expect,” Collins wrote.
PPTA president Chris Abercrombie responded, calling the letter “disappointing”, and saying that Stanford’s office had told them there would be no discussion of terms and conditions of an agreement
Abercrombie said the meeting was cancelled before any agenda items were formally submitted, adding that Palestine was only one of several topics it wanted to discuss with the minister, including NCEA changes and artificial intelligence in education.
He said its placement at the top of the list did not indicate priority.
“No teacher wants to strike, we want to be in the classroom,” Abercrombie said.
“Instead of being productive, the minister is taking side shots from overseas.”
Collins was in Washington DC for defence and security meetings.
In her letter, she also criticised the timing of the teachers’ strike, urging parents to ask why it was scheduled during a week already disrupted by teacher-only days and the upcoming Labour Day.
She said the Government had acted in good faith, offering pay increases in line with inflation, and expressed concern for those whose medical appointments were postponed due to the industrial action.
“This strike is unfair and unwarranted,” she said, adding that while the Government valued public sector workers — including teachers, nurses, and doctors — it must also manage finances responsibly amid tight budgets and growing demands.
She pointed to increased public spending during Covid and rising debt.
“It is only unions who want strikes. We ask, once again, for them to come to the table. That is the place to talk and to bargain.”
Collins ‘trying to drive a wedge’ – incoming CTU president
Sandra Grey spoke to Q+A’s Jack Tame ahead of the planned mega-strike. (Source: Q and A)
Speaking to Q+A, incoming Council of Trade Unions president Sandra Grey said Collins was “trying to drive a wedge” between New Zealanders.
“I don’t understand why a minister would go out to try and divide New Zealanders. We love our teachers, we love our nurses, we love our health workers, and we know they’re struggling to keep up with their work.”
Grey said the chance that Thursday’s strike would be called off was “very slim” as she said the Government had not shown it was “genuinely” prepared to come to the table.
“It keeps interfering in the conversations around the wages and salaries and conditions of these workers. It is refusing to acknowledge that the wages have not kept up with inflation, and we’re seeing more and more hardship from working people.
“We have working people living in cars because the wages are not keeping up with the cost of living.
“That’s not an Aotearoa I want to live in, and it’s certainly not one that union members want to live in,” she said.
