An estimated 100,000 public sector workers took to the streets in what was billed as one of the country’s largest strikes in decades yesterday.
But rallies in Wellington, Wairarapa and Canterbury had to be cancelled because of severe weather, with dangerous wind gusts of up to 150km/h affecting some areas.
A Public Service Association (PSA) spokesperson said it estimated more than 100,000 people were involved in the “mega strike”, including doctors, nurses, teachers, prison staff, firefighters and other healthcare personnel.
E tū union director and former Labour minister Michael Wood said he understood the strike was the largest protest in New Zealand in 45 years.
Many schools were shut for the day with non-emergency medical procedures delayed at hospitals because of strike action.
In Auckland’s Aotea Square a live band and loud drumming stirred the crowd of thousands of people crammed together on the forecourt.
An estimated 10,000 people marched down Queen St.
One sign among the sea of colourful flags and painted cardboard read: “Don’t bite the hands that heal you.”
Further north, hundreds gathered in Whangārei with fulltime surgical nurse Kayla Crossley marching alongside her three sons.
At Tauranga’s Memorial Park rally, Bethlehem Primary School student Cassie Seaward was protesting with her mother.
“My mum works at my school and I came along with her,” the 11-year-old said.
“We’re standing up for teachers to get their pay rise.”
In Napier, about 1500 people gathered at the city’s Soundshell stage under blue skies.
NZ Council of Trade Unions president Richard Wagstaff said the strike action was in response to what he described as a centralised Government strategy to hold wage increases below inflation and to cut resources to the public service.
He argued employers wanted professional workers to be locked into a long-term agreement with pay adjustments that fell below inflation.
Before the strike, Education Minister Erica Stanford accused the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) of bullying its members into silence.
“That’s why people don’t speak out. And I’ve heard from principals and I’ve heard from teachers who tell me that’s exactly the case,” Stanford said.
Healthcare and education workers at rallies raised the issue of unsafe working environments because of low staffing numbers as a reason for striking.
At a rally in Rotorua, New Zealand Nurses Organisation delegate and Rotorua Hospital emergency department nurse Denise Taplin told the crowd she recently responded to an emergency call bell after a doctor had collapsed “mid-procedure”.
“She was at six hours in her shift – she made sure that all her colleagues had gone off for a break and had something to eat, but she hadn’t,” Taplin said.
Other workers were concerned with a lack of critical resources.
New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union member David Phillips said his truck broke down the morning before the Auckland strike.
On Sunday, Public Service Minister Judith Collins wrote an open letter to patients, students and families claiming the strike was “politically motivated by the unions”.
“This industrial action is unfair and unwarranted,” Collins said.
“And to all the parents of younger children, who have had to rearrange their usual commitments, I urge you to ask your children’s teachers why their union arranged a strike in a week when many schools already have teacher-only days, followed by Labour Day on Monday.”
Labour MP Kieran McAnulty told the crowd in Rotorua the Government was trying to ignore the massive strikes.
“They are trying to turn patients against the nurses ... and parents against the teachers. But they’re not going to win,” McAnulty said.
Westbrook School principal Colin Watkins said there needed to be a bipartisan approach to fix systemic issues in education and health.
“I’ve seen in almost every election, education and health have been used as a political football,” Watkins said.
Emergency situations forced some people who were striking to return to work early.
At Nelson Hospital, a total power outage and failure of a back-up power generation system meant some necessary medical staff were called into work.
Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers chief executive Nathan Chong-Nee said yesterday’s strike action marked a turning point for underpaid and overworked public sector staff.
“This is a day of action that will be a defining moment in our history,” Chong-Nee said.
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