Kerre Woodham: Unions seem to have struck themselves into irrelevance

Back when I was a kid, you knew the school holidays were coming up when the Seafarers Union went on strike. Sure as God made little apples, a week before the school holidays, the unions would be all out, brothers and sisters, and then there'd be all night negotiations between the cloth caps and the capitalist overlords, while parents waited anxiously to see if the annual road trip —south in our case— would take place to go down and see the Christchurch rallies. Generally, at the last minute they would, so it was a mad dash to Wellington, over the Cook Strait to Christchurch for the school holidays. Every single time.  

Union representatives were household names in New Zealand – Ken Douglas, Sonja Davies, Blue Kennedy, everybody knew them. The strength of unions abated over the years after the reforms of the Fourth Labour Government. But since the demise of the last Labour Government and the arrival of this centre-right Government, unions have certainly been flexing their muscles.  

Primary school teachers have voted to go on strike on October 23rd. “Kerre, isn't that the Thursday before Labour Weekend?” That's correct, it is. So what's that going to do? A glorious long weekend, and two days off school for the kids. Secondary teachers are on their rolling strike this week, again, right before the school holidays, massively disrupting senior classes and school attendance. Nurses walked off the job recently and senior doctors go on strike next week. They are perfectly entitled to do so, but it's a delicate balancing act holding on to public support while pressuring the government to give in to their demands for pay and conditions.  

Political commentator Bryce Edwards made a very good point in an article yesterday, which just reinforces what we know. Unions take a softly, softly approach with Labour governments generally, because they don't want to damage Labour-led governments by striking. Unions affiliated to Labour contribute their members' dues to the Labour Party, and unions have voting rights on Labour's leadership under the current constitution that the Labour Party has.  

So, in the main, they don't want to embarrass a Labour-led government. That is not to say they don't strike. Teachers held rolling strikes throughout 2023 because the Labour Government was stonewalling on negotiations. And in part, teachers say it's because the last Labour Government mucked them around for so long that they're striking again. They can only settle pay and conditions in the three-year blocks. And by the time Labour settled with the PPTA last round, it was time to begin negotiations again. But they are much more likely to strike than to negotiate. That's what the head of the Public Service Commission, Sir Brian Roche said – that we offered them a good deal, they didn't bother negotiating, just said, "Right, we're striking”. 

The disruption to kids and their parents is far, far more than just the one day they strike, though. By choosing to strike right before the school holidays, kids don't see the point in going to school for the last week. They're lumped together in mixed classes. There's no real learning taking place. Teacher-only days in many schools on the Friday. What the hell is the point?  

It's a real struggle for people I know who have teenagers to get them to school because they'd go if they were learning, they'd go if it mattered, they'd go if they felt they were going to get something out of it. When all they're doing is being lumped together in one mess class with a couple of duty teachers to make sure people don't go missing or harm one another, that's basically the end of it. It's basically babysitting for a couple of days, and the kids know that, so they think, why bother?  

At what point do you lose sympathy for striking public servants? At what point as a teacher or a nurse do you lose patience with your union? I think most of us have sympathy with teachers, and nurses and doctors, and police officers, understanding just how important their jobs are within society. But are they more important than what you do?  

And at what point do you decide that actually, you'd rather be paid on performance, not how many years you've hung in there at the chalkboard? At what point do you think, I would rather be teaching my classes, not striking to give my peers pay and conditions that some of them simply do not deserve? When you know that you're a better, more competent, more hard-working, more innovative, more empathetic teacher than the one next door, does it not rankle just a tiny bit that they're getting either the same as you or more, because of simply being there longer than you? At what point do you believe in yourself?  

At what point do you negotiate your own pay and conditions the way the rest of us do, because you believe in your abilities and what you bring to the workforce? And if they'

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Kerrywood and Mornings podcast from News Talks.
He'd be back.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
When I was a kid, you knew the school holidays
were coming up when the Seafarries Union went on strike.
Sure as God made little apples week before the school holidays,
the unions would be all out, brothers and sisters, and
then there'd be all night negotiations between the cloth caps
and the capitalist overlords, while parents waited anxiously to see

(00:34):
if the annual road trip south in our case would
take place, to go down and see the christ Church rallies.
Long road trip from Tokodor or too Dangy or way
he down to Wellington, maybe catch the ferry if the
fairies were actually sailing, and generally at the last minute
they would, so it was a mad dash to Wellington

(00:56):
over the cook straight to christ Church for the school holidays.
Every single time, union representatives were household names in New
Zealand Ken doug list Sonya Davies, Blue Kennedy, everybody knew them.
The strength of unions are baited over the years after

(01:16):
the reforms of the Fourth Labor Government, but since the
demise of the Last Labor Government and their arrival of
this center right government. You thens have certainly been flexing
their muscles. Primary school teachers have voted to go on
strike on October twenty third, curio, isn't that the Thursday

(01:36):
before labor weekend? That's correct? It is, so what's that
going to do? That's Thursday off, Friday off, Saturday, Sunday Monday,
glorious long weekend and two days off school for the kids.
Secondary teachers are on their rolling strike this week again
right before the school holidays, massively disrupting senior classes and

(01:59):
school attendants. Nurses walked off the job recently, and senior
doctors go and strike next week. They are perfectly entitled
to do so, but it's a delicate balancing act, holding
onto public support while pressuring the government to give in
to their demands for pay and conditions. Political commentator Bryce
Edwards made a very good point in an article yesterday

(02:21):
which just reinforces what we know. Unions take a softly,
softly approach with labor governments, generally because they don't want
to damage labor led governments by striking. Unions affiliated to
Labour contribute their members dues to the Labor party, and
unions have voting rights on labour's leadership under the current

(02:43):
constitution that the Labor Party has, so in the main
they don't want to embarrass a labor led government. That
is not to say they don't strike. Teachers held rolling
strikes throughout twenty three because the labor government was stone
walling on negotiations, and in part teachers say it's because
the last labor government mucked them around for so long

(03:05):
that their strike again. They can only settle pay and
conditions and the three year blocks, and by the time
labor settled with the PTA last around, it was time
to win in negotiations again. But they are much more
likely to strike than to negotiate. That's what Sir Brian
Roach said, the head of the Public Service Commission. So

(03:28):
we offered them a good deal. They didn't more the negotiating,
just said right with striking. The disruption to kids and
their parents is far far more than just the one
day they strike. Though. By choosing to strike right before
the school holidays, kids don't see the point in going
to school for the last week. They're lumped together in
mixed classes. There's no real learning taking place. Teacher only

(03:53):
days in many schools on the Friday what the hell
is the point. It's a real struggle for people I
know who have teenagers to get them to school, because
they'd go if they were learning, they'd go if it mattered,
they'd go if they felt they were going to get
something out of it. When all they're doing is being

(04:13):
lumped together in one mass class with a couple of
duty teachers to make sure people don't go missing or
harm one another. That's basically the end of it. It's
basically babysitting for a couple of days, and the kids
know that, so they think, why bother? At what point

(04:34):
do you lose sympathy for striking public servants? At what
point is a teacher or a nurse do you lose
patience with your union? I think most of us have
sympathy with teachers and nurses and doctors and police officers,
understanding just how important their jobs are within society. But

(04:57):
are they more important than what you do? And at
what point do you decide that actually you'd rather be
paid on performance, not how many years you've hung in
there at the chalkboard. At what point do you think
I would rather be teaching my classes, not striking to

(05:19):
give my peers pay and conditions that some of them
simply do not deserve. When you know that you are better,
more competent, more hard working, more innovative, more empathetic teacher
than the one next door, does it not rankle just
a tiny bit that they're getting either the same as

(05:41):
you or more simply by stand of being there longer
than you. At what point do you believe in yourself?
At what point do you negotiate your own pay and
conditions the way the rest of us do because you
believe in your abilities and what you bring to the workforce,

(06:04):
and if they're not good enough, you go. It's like
that with this job, I have no idea what the
others earn, and I have absolutely no interest and the
moment I don't meet markers, even if I do meet them,
Like I think Paul Holmes was rating at the top
of his game. You know, there was nobody who was
rating higher than Paul, but it was time for him

(06:26):
to go to refresh the radio stations. So you can
still be doing a really good job and go. And
that's the labor market in which I work and in
which I choose to work. So at what point do
you back yourself? And so you know what I do
a really really, really good job, and I want to
be paid more than the lazy ass next to me.

(06:51):
I wonder why teachers in particular are so insecure in
their own bargaining powers. How many teachers would rather not
be in the union negotiate their own contracts. Don't feel
that you are fairly paid in your job or your
conditions aren't ideal? Have you used the union to negotiate

(07:15):
for you or do you do it yourself? Have you
found the unions useful? Yeah? So I look at teachers
and I think you are really there are we all know?
There are some that is so much better than others,
who are so much more hard working and innovative. Why

(07:35):
don't they get more? Still up to them. If they
want to have collective bargaining and collective pay and collective conditions,
that's their choice. But for how many is there a
little seed of dart setting and thinking? Really, the way

(07:58):
New Zealand is at the moment, the way the kids
schooling has been so severely disrupted over the last few years,
our conditions aren't that bad when you look around, When
you look around at what other people are earning and
what other people are doing. At what point do you

(08:19):
think the union's not for you. Back in the olden days,
the unions were all powerful, dominant, a really strong collective force,
and they wielded enormous power on the economy and on governments.

(08:41):
But they struck themselves and bullied themselves into irrelevance.

Speaker 1 (08:45):
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