Sasha Borissenko: The rise of industrial action

Members of the University of Otago branch of the Tertiary Education Union make signs to carry during October's strike rally. Photo / Supplied

Employees the world over are bearing the brunt of the pandemic as rises in inflation, housing prices, poor working conditions and wages rear their ugly heads. For those who are fortunate to have the support of a union behind them, they’re fighting back.

Let’s look at the rise of industrial action in the last year.

Last week the Herald reported a group of Stuff journalists is threatening strike action if the company fails to reach an agreement over pay rises and how future pay rises are decided. Stuff and E tū Union were in talks last week. The last strike in the industry was in 2001.

In November, Tertiary Education Union (TEU) members at the University of Auckland held off from releasing marks to students in protest following failed requests for pay rises.

In October, 7000 university staff walked out in a national strike as the TEU proposed an 8 per cent pay rise for all staff to match rising inflation. It was the first coordinated strike from all eight universities in 20 years.

Ministry of Justice staff voted to take industrial action in November following calls for a settlement that properly recognised the cost of living pressures and working conditions. PSA members voted to work to rule as part of collective bargaining until Monday December 19.

It’s not the first time Ministry of Justice workers have taken the Government to the mattresses, having walked out of courtrooms for a two-hour strike in September 2018.

For context, the Government introduced a public sector pay restraint in 2020 as a result of the pandemic. It gave rise to threats of industrial action by union members from Oranga Tamariki, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Education, Corrections, and the Ministry for Culture and Heritage.

Negotiations around a cost of living pay increase kicked off in October. That same month data showed a 17.3 per cent turnover in the public service in the 2021/22 year. The average turnover the previous year was 10.5 per cent, 10.1 per cent in 2020 and 11.8 per cent in 2019.

It has definitely been Scorpio season as firefighters also threatened and called off a strike following negotiations with Fire and Emergency NZ in November. In August, members of the New Zealand Professional Firefighters’ Union across the country went on strike for two hours.

All career firefighters and personnel at the 111 Emergency Dispatch Centre have called for better pay, increased staffing and mental health support, safer work procedures, and improved equipment.

In October, 4200 nurses working for Plunket, GPs, and with iwi and Māori providers across the country went on strike for four hours arguing they had the same skills as nurses working for Health New Zealand.

The strike came just a day after the Government passed its Fair Pay Agreements legislation, which empowers trade unions to negotiate minimum rates of pay across sectors.

It’s not the first strike among nurses in October, with nurses at Wakefield and Bowen Hospitals in Wellington and Royston Hospital in Hastings taking industrial action following more than a year of negotiations. For nurses working in public hospitals, the New Zealand Nurses Organisations voted to strike for 24 hours in July, August, and September 2021.

Further afield, more than 10,000 allied health workers - including laboratory and anaesthetic technicians, oral health specialists, alcohol and drug clinicians, and sterile sciences techniques - also took issue with poor pay and working conditions. Striking in May, the move came after more than 18 months of negotiations for a new collective agreement.

Tables were turned when New Zealand’s only domestic toilet paper producer, Kawerau paper mill, locked out its 145 workers without pay in August and September, threatening its workers with more than $500,000 in damages.

Thankfully, the Government stepped in to facilitate the final weeks of negotiations between the company, which is New Zealand’s only domestic toilet paper producer, and its workers. A potential toilet paper and towel crisis was averted after a deal was made to increase wages to meet forecasted inflation for the next three years.

I could go on but the situation is deep and infiltrating much of New Zealand’s workforce. Bus drivers, fuel tank drivers, primary school teachers, egg producer employees, and pallet-supplier workers have fought back just this year, for example.

Seeing as strikes and lockouts are largely an action of last resort, I’ve said it once but I’ll say it again, it appears something is rotten in the state of Denmark.