WELLINGTON, Sept 9 (Reuters) – Nearly 10,000 New Zealand public servants walked off the job for several hours on Wednesday, adding to pressure on a government confronting a weak urban economy and middle-income households strained by high living costs ahead of an election in about two months.
The stoppages at several major government agencies disrupted services including employment and social housing support and came as workers rejected wage offers they say would leave them worse off in real terms.
Protests were also held across the country and several hundred public sector workers gathered near the country’s parliament, waving union flags and chanting “When workers’ rights are under attack, stand up, fight back.”
Kate Hamilton, a union representative, told the crowd that the pay offer was not sufficient to offset the increases in the cost of living.
“We have to draw a line,” she told those gathered.
New Zealand’s Labour Party and former prime minister Chris Hipkins along with Green Party lawmaker Julie Anne Genter spoke at the rally, expressing solidarity with the plight of the public sector workers.
“You cannot cut your way to a better public service,” Hipkins told the rally, acknowledging that workers were dealing with rising costs.
The strike action also puts public-sector staffing on the agenda of the election campaign: the current government has pushed hard to reduce the number of public servants and is promising further cuts, despite union warnings that leaner agencies could erode frontline services.
The centre-right government led by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has previously said the cuts to the public service were necessary to get New Zealand’s budget back in balance and to free up money to fund more frontline staff including police and prison officers.
(Reporting by Lucy Craymer in Wellington; editing by Lincoln Feast.)
