‘We are not happy’: Public workers want better conditions

Jennifer Parry from Hamilton East has been working for four years as a Learning Support Assistant.

On Thursday last week, she was off work and on strike in Garden Place because of “very poor increase in pay and offers”.

“We are not happy with the current conditions, and they are not improving it,” she said.

Parry stood alongside doctors, nurses, healthcare personnel, teachers and support staff who took part in this week’s “mega-strike” –  the biggest in decades.

More than 1000 workers ignored windy weather to be in Garden Place – part of 100,000 workers from the public sector who were predicted to be involved in the national protest.

Parry said if the government granted the increase sought “it can increase the staff and resources to improve the support for the children”.

“It is hard to do a job when you are not getting enough to survive. The equity has been taken away this year, and I am quite worried about that”.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon called the strike action “absolutely tragic” and called it politically motivated.

Labour leader, Chris Hipkins, on social media, said the strike was the result of the government choosing to underfund schools and hospitals.