New Zealand Council of Trade Unions

New Zealand ‘mega strike’: 100,000 public sector workers demand better conditions Teachers, nurses and public service staff among those walking off job and pressing for more government investment in health and education

Thank you to everyone who came out to support our public service workers today ✊ #nzpol

#nzpol Rally in your rohe get cancelled? NZNO and NZEI Te Riu Roa will be livestreaming the Auckland rally and speeches. Tune in to hear from frontline workers, union leaders, and community voices standing together to save our public services.
www.facebook.com/share/1D5LRN...

Public Service Commission's ads targeting strike 'absolutely unbelievable' - Labour Public Service Commission defends use of social media ads about public sector negotiations.

#nzpol I never thought that I would see the day when the Public Service Commission was used as an attack arm of the government. National Party polling must be telling them how popular the strikes are, and how unpopular they are. They are afraid.
www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

#nzpol International solidarity for today’s mega strike ✊🇬🇧

#nzpol International solidarity for today’s strikes from the U.K’s General Federation of Trade Unions ✊

Some rallies have been cancelled but the STRIKES ARE STILL ON—check the Public Service Association’s page for more details: www.psa.org.nz/campaigns/23...

Read the full release:
union.org.nz/inflation-ri...

53 years of the Equal Pay Act  - NZCTU 53 years since the Equal Pay Act 1972 was passed, NZCTU Secretary Melissa Ansell-Bridges is calling on political parties to reverse the recent changes to the Act that undermine women’s pay equity righ...

Today marks 53 years, over half a century, since we passed the Equal Pay Act in New Zealand... but the Luxon Government has taken us backwards.
#nzpol

Teacher, nurses strike - what’s at stake This week, tens of thousands of public servants including nurses and teachers are expected to take strike action in protest at their pay and conditions. Today, the Government and union leaders have th...

Richard Wagstaff on Collins' open letter: "The Government consistently demonstrates they are out of touch with the realities of workers...Previous National-led governments have found ways through industrial disputes in the past. We need to see leadership not politics from this Government." #nzpol

#nzpol CTU Secretary @melansellbridges.bsky.social
had a thing or two to say to Minister Judith Collins after her open letter on Sunday.

YouTube video by Q+A with Jack Tame Can unions justify disruptive strikes? New CTU president speaks | Q+A 2025

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@nzctu.bsky.social
#nzpol

DIRE EMERGENCY
2,000 New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union members walked off the job across the motu today to fight for safe staffing, working equipment, and better conditions. The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi stands with the NZPFU in their fight to keep our communities safe.
#nzpol

#BREAKING Rā Whakamana locations have just DROPPED. On the 28th of October we're gathering across the motu as iwi and unions to mark the signing of He Whakaputanga and the first Labour Day. Go to together.org.nz to find an event in your rohe and sign up for email updates. #nzpol

Publicly Owned Electricity Reimagining Aotearoa Together

Energy prices are out of control. We must treat the electricity market as a public utility, not a source of profit. Read through our plan for publicly owned energy in Aotearoa:

Spending on essentials strangling household spending: Kiwibank The bank’s latest tracker shows utility bills up nearly 20% and food costs rising fast, leaving little room for discretionary spending despite easing mortgage rates.

“We’ve just gone through winter, and in winter the power bills are a lot higher. Some of our clients are beneficiaries, and while they get the winter energy payment, the power bills have kept going up, the energy payment hasn’t moved,”
#nzpol

Women should not be working for free - NZCTU The 2025 “Work for Free” calendar shines a harsh light on pay inequity for women and marginalised communities across Aotearoa. Each year, these dates symbolise when women and many ethnic groups effect...

3/3 Read the full release here: union.org.nz/women-should...

2/3 In NZ we were closing that gap—until our Govt gutted our world-leading pay equity system. When they cut down pay equity, they cut down the best tool we had for dealing with gender and ethic pay gaps. By 30 November, ALL WOMEN in NZ will have reached their “work for free” day.

#nzpol 1/3 The 2025 “Work for Free” calendar shines a harsh light on pay inequity for women and marginalised communities across Aotearoa. Each year, these dates symbolise when women and many ethnic groups effectively stop being paid compared to Pākehā men.

CTU congratulates Living Wage Movement for huge win - NZCTU NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff is today congratulating the Living Wage Movement and trade unions for their victory in keeping the living wage in government procurement contracts.

#nzpol HUGE WIN for the Living Wage Movement as it's decided that Government-contracted cleaners, security guards, and catering workers will KEEP their Living Wage.
This a testament to organising power in action ✊

Public Ownership of Electricity Join us in building a better world

Sign the open letter: www.together.org.nz/public_owner...

We're taking our power back. Sign our open letter to bring Aotearoa New Zealand's energy market back into public ownership. #nzpol

4/4 "Women workers deserve fair pay and to have historical pay discrimination corrected. The public knows it, the evidence shows it, and come 2026, this Government will learn that undermining women's rights comes at a political price," said CTU Secretary Melissa Ansell-Bridges.

3/4 This is not just an issue among left-wing voters: over a quarter (28%) of coalition voters opposed the changes, and of those half of them would switch their vote because of pay equity.

2/4 The Horizon Research poll shows that 159,860 of the coalition parties’ 2023 voters would likely change their vote next election as a response to the gutting of pay equity. When surveyed, 42% of NZers opposed the changes. 69% thought the public should have been consulted.

Poll: Controversial pay equity changes could cost coalition the 2026 election The survey, released by the Public Service Association and the Council of Trade Unions, found that more than a quarter of voters who backed the coalition parties in 2023 opposed the reforms.

#nzpol #BREAKING 1/4 A new poll released by the NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi and the PSA shows that the coalition's attack on pay equity could cost them the Beehive in next year's election.
www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360...

#nzpol A group of 20 senior economists including the NZCTU's Craig Renney has written to the Finance Minister and Prime Minister warning that the government’s economic strategy is failing and is causing “long-term harm” to communities across New Zealand.

A small wrinkle in the Jobseeker policy The government’s recent changes to benefits feel like this: the house is on fire, and this policy is them turning off the smoke alarm and saying it’s fixed

#nzpol Sometimes a policy is so stupid it makes you question the very fabric of reality. Decisions so fabulously, almost wantonly dumb, you wonder if we actually live in a simulation. Welcome to the world of removing Jobseeker Support for 18 & 19-year-olds. craigrenney.substack.com/p/a-small-wr...

#nzpol LARGEST STRIKE IN DECADES: More than 11,500 health workers and about 40,000 primary school teachers have voted to walk off the job on the same day - and thousands more may join them. The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi 100% backs our affiliate unions in advancing their collective agreements.

6/6 Even their own press release states that the market has failed to invest, and we are now paying the price. The weak package put forward today shows how much better a publicly owned electricity system would be for the future of NZ.

5/6 Instead of getting on with fixing the electricity system, the Government has sought to deliver an LNG terminal which will be years away – when renewable energy projects in New Zealand could be started now. This Govt has failed to address the challenges inherent in our current market...

4/6 The Government claims that it wishes to ‘improve electricity market transparency and information’, yet it supported the Electricity Authority stopping the provision of information on electricity market margins earlier this year.