95bFM Megastrikes across the motu for better working conditions and pay
23 October, 2025
Interviews by Emmanuel Orange and Caeden Tipler, adapted by Sara Mckoy
With as many as 100,000 union workers from health, education and public sectors expected to have taken part in strike action today, the Public Services Association’s Fleur Fitzsimons and former chair of Te Whatu Ora Rob Campbell weigh in on how the government should respond to their demands.
A ‘megastrike’ occurred throughout New Zealand today with union members working in the education, medical, and public sectors, having walked off the job, calling for better pay and working conditions.
The strike follows stalled negotiations between public sector unions and the government. Despite this, Public Service Minister Judith Collins insists the government had acted “in good faith”, with pay increases aligned with inflation, and claimed strike plans were “politically motivated”.
In response, the President of the Post-Primary Teachers’ Association, Chris Abercrombie, said the issue is inherently political.
Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche denounced the impact of the strikes on patients and students, especially, calling for unions to “negotiate a reasonable solution”.
National Secretary of the Public Services Association (PSA) Fleur Fitzsimons told 95bFM’s The Wire that public sector workers have grown frustrated with the government’s response to fair pay demands
“[Workers] are finding that they're not making the progress they need in their collective bargaining and really are left with no choice but to take this industrial action…
“The government has the power to settle these disputes; they just need to come to the bargaining table with an offer which recognises the important professional issues these groups are raising.”
Former chair of Te Whatu Ora, Rob Campbell, who has a background in trade unionism, business leadership, governance, and public service, wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon with his view on how the government should be responding to the strikes.
Campbell told The Wire that the megastrike is a consequence of government policies that have exacerbated problems in the public sector.
“No one likes [striking], but [workers] are the people that bear the brunt of it, not the people on the half million and up salaries that are making the decisions…
“This is a major pushback against a direction of government, which increasingly even the polls show New Zealanders basically do not want.”
He rejects Judith Collins' statement that the strike was “politically motivated”.
“To ascribe that to health workers, doctors, nurses, educators, teachers, teachers' aides, all the ancillary workers in health, the people who chose their jobs not to make a lot of money and not have a lot of political power, but to serve the public, is an ignorant [and] really beneath contempt.
“It does not show any respect for these people as people; that's 100,000 of your citizens”
Fitzsimons says the government dismissed workers' concerns as “unaffordable or out of touch”, referring to the recent independent review of ACC’s culture.
“It doesn't show workers that the employer wants to work with them and understand their issues and improve the culture, and that's one of the key reasons why that workforce is now taking strike action.”
Fitzsimons and Campbell both say the megastrike will demonstrate the significance of union strength and action, calling for better pay offers from the government.
“The strike is going to be historic,” Fitzsimons says.
“We're not only going to see about a hundred thousand workers all over New Zealand take strike action, but what we're also seeing is huge support from the community.”
