Anne Daniels, President
NZNO Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa

Recent times have been so challenging for our members that they will be remembered as the worst of times. We have a Government that is doing everything it can to oppress and create fear and uncertainty among workers, the unemployed, disabled, disadvantaged, and our ageing population. The public sector particularly is under attack with nurses, doctors, firefighters, community support workers, hospice nurses, teachers and many more in the private sector, all on strike or planning to go on strike. 

In the fight for the hearts and minds of the public and striking workers, misinformation in the media coming from Coalition politicians and employers is rife. In response, I have heard protestors repeatedly use the refrain “Liar, Liar” when facing current Coalition Ministers. Lying is a false statement told with the intent to deceive. The person who tells a lie knows it is false. But misinformation is simply false. The person who spreads it might or might not know the truth of the matter. 

Regardless, both lies and misinformation are harmful, often equally so. In general, people are reluctant to call something a lie because it is hard to tell what a person’s intent is. But there is one thing that New Zealanders hate and that is a lie, worse still a repeated lie, which does show intent. A recent repeated lie, saw the same language used by two Coalition MPs, in reference first to the nurses’ strike, then the teachers’ strike. This suggested collusion and lies by design. 

A repeated lie is a strategy to shift the political agenda onto the politician’s own agenda. Right now, the Coalition Government is doing everything it can to weaken the unions democratic right to strike in the context of collective bargaining. Judith Collins has made that clear through her not so opaque comments that she is considering “options” around curbing the right to strike.

Keeping union members guessing about what is right or wrong in a maelstrom of misinformation spread during collective bargaining disputes, is a far-right political tactic straight out of George Orwell’s 1984 where 2 +2 = 5. The intent of which is distraction and division to enable a policy decision that would directly attack workers’ rights and ability to negotiate fair wages and safe working conditions. The stripping away of workers’ rights without consultation is repeated behaviour, just look at the devious approach to removing women’s Pay Equity rights in the dead of night.

Murmurings, from different quarters, suggest one of the options being looked at by Collins and the Coalition Government is a return to the past in the form of an arbitration court to resolve disputes during collective bargaining. For unions this will mean submitting to someone else making a binding decision in negotiation outcomes, and unions, albeit union members, losing control of decisions made. Forcing workers into new processes that favour employers will further reduce workers few remaining tools to push back.

Politicians are working hard right now to sow the seeds of dissension and distrust, making us question ourselves and our decisions to strike in our Maranga Mai! fight for a fully funded public health system that is patient-centred, safe, and can deliver the necessary political and resourcing commitments needed to address our workforce crisis, permanently. This is our incentive to stand strong, united. 

Even the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) takes the view these days that…

Collective bargaining and workers voice remain important and flexible instruments that should be mobilised to help workers and companies/employers face the challenges of major demographic and technological changes that are re-shaping the labour market. Collective bargaining is well placed to generate solutions to emerging collective challenges. 

As we gear up for the next two days of strikes, we all need to remember that nurses are the most respected profession anywhere. We are trusted. We need to trust ourselves and each other in coming days, by using every strategy and tactic we have to win this war on the health and wellbeing of our nation. We need to use our right to strike while we can and fight to protect that right. To do that every NZNO member, everywhere needs to STAND UP and FIGHT BACK for as long as it takes to win. We can and must do this United. Together. 

Every member, everywhere. Maranga Mai!