About 1500 people descended on Napier’s Soundshell as part of today’s nationwide mega industrial strike for “solidarity” for essential workers.
The bulk of some of society’s most important workers – from doctors and nurses to teachers, prison staff and other healthcare personnel – are walking off the job today in a strike tipped to be the largest in New Zealand in recent history.
An estimated 100,000 workers from the public sector – also including dentists, social workers, physiotherapists and mental health staffers – are set to be involved nationally.
Many schools will be closed, and at hospitals, many non-emergency medical procedures will be delayed.
Public Service Minister Judith Collins earlier released an open letter to anyone who will be impacted by the strikes and said they appeared to be “politically motivated by the unions”.
At the protest was Napier firefighter and Hawke’s Bay union president, Shane Cunningham, who said he attended for solidarity and “fighting for safe systems at work”.
“We’re just here and standing together strong with all the other essential workers.
“The fire service just needs to invest the money in the front line.”
Jude Karaitiana, a teacher at Te Kura Reo Rua O Maraenui Bilingual School, has been with the NZEI union since 2000.
She was at the protest because of “the Government’s decision not to support teachers and teacher aides”.
“I want to see students get the help that they need with the support of staff and teachers,” she said.
Karaitiana said pay was just a small factor in what teachers were asking for.
“We’re dealing with a lot of children with diverse needs, and do we get the help we need for that? No we don’t.
“What I would like to see happen is that the Government takes notice of what we as educators need for our classrooms, for our teachers, for our mokopuna.
“Listen to what our concerns are, our issues are, because at the moment they can only see it’s about pay.”
Mental health social worker and PSA union member Erin Radley claims in the past six years in the industry she’s seen an increase in need and a decrease in job availability.
“The need for our young people to be accessing mental health is getting higher, the risk of mental health decline is getting higher, and we just don’t have enough staff to fill the need in our community,” she said.
Radley said new potential staff were going to Australia, not just because the money was better but because the delay in getting approval for mental health social workers in New Zealand took too long.
“By the time it actually gets to them being offered a contract, they’ve already moved somewhere else.”
She does not believe the Government is listening to public sector workers who are crying out for staff.
“We need help. We all need more staff. We all need money to keep giving people access to resources.
“This is Hawke’s Bay. We’re a huge area with a lot of demand.”
Wearing a striking wizard outfit, Central Hawke’s Bay College relief teacher David Berry was striking for pay that meets inflation and for safer conditions in schools with more support staff.
He said the wizard outfit is what he wears when he’s “not teaching”.