WELLINGTON (Reuters) -More than 100,000 New Zealand teachers, nurses, doctors, firefighters and support staff walked off the job on Thursday demanding more money and resources for the public sector in a sign of growing discontent with the country's centre-right government.
Public servants marched with placards and banners in towns across New Zealand, chanting and listening to speeches. Protests in Wellington and Christchurch had to be cancelled because of dangerous weather conditions.
The unions in a joint statement last week billed the strike as the largest in decades with more than 100,000 public servants taking part.
Middlemore Hospital emergency doctor and Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Vice President Sylvia Boys told the crowd at Aotea Square in Auckland the government had been elected on promises to reduce the cost of living while maintaining frontline services and it was “fair to say these are the issues on which they are failing dismally.”
“The cost of living has worsened, and in health and education we have seen cuts across the sector. We are losing more talent than ever before,” she added in her speech, which was published on Facebook by the ASMS union.
The government has dismissed the protests as a union-orchestrated political stunt, even as the demonstrations highlight growing public unease over the administration's direction. Recent opinion polls indicate support for the ruling coalition has slipped, though the opposition has yet to open a clear lead.
Since coming to power in 2023, the conservative government has reduced new public spending as it tries to return the government’s accounts to surplus. It has said the cuts would be in back office operations and would keep interest rates low and ensure New Zealand continues to be seen as a good place to invest.
However, the economy has struggled, contracting in three of the last five quarters, and historically high numbers of New Zealanders are leaving the country. While inflation is off its peak, it has ticked higher in the past couple of quarters.
Public Service Minister Judith Collins said in a statement on Wednesday that the proposed strike was unfair, unproductive and unnecessary.
“It is a stunt targeting the Government but the people paying the price are the thousands of patients who have had appointments and surgeries cancelled, and the hundreds of thousands of kids who will miss another day at school,” she said. The government said that it was ready to negotiate.
(Reporting by Lucy Craymer; Editing by Kate Mayberry)
