As Public Services Minister I spoke out about the Education and Health workers strikes before they occurred last week, because I believed the Unions were using their members to make a political point.
In my opinion the Unions who encouraged public servants to take strike action let themselves down and more importantly they let the most vulnerable people in our society down – thousands of our children and thousands of people and patients with injuries, conditions and illnesses who needed medical attention in the community and in our hospitals.
None of these vulnerable people will get back those vital hours of waiting for medical treatment or support for preparing for exams or learning to read. Many of them will continue to suffer, especially those who now need to have medical consultations and procedures rescheduled and who must begin the waiting again.
Instead of bargaining the PPTA presented a list of demands starting with action on Palestine, showing that they were not putting teachers’ needs for pay and conditions to be revised first at all.
These were the offers before the PPTA and NZEI unions on 23 October:
Education Minister Erica Stanford had agreed to an offer for 66 percent of trained primary teachers will be paid a base salary of at least $100,000 within 12 months of ratification – up from 40 percent currently.
And for 76 percent of all trained secondary teachers the offer would be paid a base salary of at least $100,000 per annum from 29 October 2025 – up from 60 percent currently. The Union chose to reject these offers.
These were the offers before the Doctors and Nurses unions on or before 23 October:
Minister of Health Simeon Brown’s offer on behalf of Health New Zealand, included an average total remuneration for senior doctors, including overtime and allowances, of $343,500. This does not include any work they do in the private sector. They also receive six weeks’ annual leave, paid leave for conferences and a fully paid three-month sabbatical every six years.
The latest offer would have provided a salary increase of at least 5 percent over two years, with the ability to provide an additional increase for first-year specialists. These increases are additional to the $5900 annual step increase senior doctors receive until they reach the top of the 15-step pay scale.
In addition, a $40 million fund is proposed for distribution to senior doctors to support the workforce with retention and address shortages in hard-to-staff hospitals.
The average salary for both Senior and Registered Nurses is $125,662, which includes overtime, a professional development allowance, and penal rates.
Under the latest offer, nurses on the top step would have had a 2 percent increase in June 2025 - an extra $2135 per year - with another 1 percent increase in June next year.
