Thousands of public service workers gathered en masse in the South as part of the largest co-ordinated strike action in the country in decades.
The industrial action began when workers walked off the job about 11am yesterday.
Teachers, nurses, doctors and public sector workers gathered at the Edgar Centre and other arenas across the country as part of a mega strike after weather forecasts forced protest action indoors.
The industrial action by members of the Primary Teachers Association, the Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA), the Public Service Association (PSA), the New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO), NZEI Te Riu Roa and the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS) was in response to claimed poor working conditions and staffing levels and insufficient pay.
Wakari Hospital registered nurse Arihana Tutaki said she would like to invite members of Parliament to “step into her shoes for one day”.
“It’s hard when you know that there’s going to be limited staff; we just want to be safe, and to be able to keep our patients safe.”
Registered nurse Trudy McLellan said she was striking because she loved what she did, but was sad seeing so many co-workers getting burnt out.
“Some people have to call in sick because they are mentally unwell themselves — we just don’t have enough staff.”
King’s High School teacher Sofie Welvaert said the size of the crowd was great, and teachers believed they were backed by their communities.
“I don’t feel like the community is sucked in by the politics and the language being used by politicians about the strike … the support is not surprising, but it is really heartening.”
She said she had seen “colleague after colleague” getting burnt out.
“Then, we bring in new, bright, shiny young people into the profession and they are just dropping like flies … trying to encourage them … into something that is really going to drive them into the ground. That doesn’t seem fair.”
In Invercargill, a fiery and frustrated crowd of nearly 1000 people representing education and health services filled ILT Stadium.
PSA delegate Stacey Muir said the strike showed the government that workers had had enough and they just wanted to deliver a proper public service.
Gore and Balclutha were the only southern centres with weather safe enough to protest outside.
In Gore, a group of about 100 marched down Main St before stopping at the town’s trout monument.
Most of Gore’s secondary and primary schools, and some from surrounding townships, were represented.
The education workers said they had concerns with a changing curriculum and the lack of support.
In Balclutha, about 70 people, mostly teachers and some school children, rallied beside SH1 as part of the strike.