Green public services spokesperson Francisco Hernandez. Photo: VNP / Phil Smith
The Green Party has savaged the government's response to the looming mega-strike, calling its open letter a "clownish, desperate stunt" and "sad smear campaign".
Public Services Minister Judith Collins issued a public missive on Sunday, labelling the industrial action unfair and unwarranted and accusing the unions of being "politically motivated".
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon echoed the sentiment on RNZ's Morning Report on Monday, warning that many students would be "massively impacted".
The Greens have now written back to the minister to "correct the record" and defend public servants against the government's "propaganda campaign".
"We would like to invite you to spend just one week walking in the shoes of our teachers, nurses and doctors," Green public services spokesperson Francisco Hernandez wrote.
"You have no right to bully or demean our hardworking public servants from your position of privilege without experiencing a fraction of what they have to put up with."
Hernandez said the government was not operating in good faith by issuing a "blatantly partisan screed".
"This government clearly intends to cynically abuse the machinery of government to conduct a propaganda campaign against them - and has already begun to do so by paying for the promotion of social media ads against the workers.
"Your egregious misrepresentation of teachers' remuneration in August this year is another clear example of this silly, sad smear campaign."
Teachers strike outside Parliament in August. Photo: JOHN GERRITSEN / RNZ
Hernandez also pushed back at Collins' suggestion that the secondary teachers' union were more interested in Palestine than resolving the strike action, saying that had "been proven a lie".
In her open letter, Collins said the union's "number one item" on their agenda for an early October meeting with Education Minister Erica Stanford was Palestine, "not terms and conditions".
But Post Primary Teacher's Association president Chris Abercrombie told Morning Report that Stanford's office had told told them they did not want to talk about terms and conditions. He said the minister specifically requested talking points that were not related to bargaining.
Abercrombie said the union had suggested four items relating to: Palestine, NCEA changes, AI marking and curriculum.
In his reply to Collins, Hernandez also questioned the coalition's priorities.
"The government didn't hesitate for a moment to give billions of dollars of tax cuts to landlords and hundreds of millions to big tobacco and fossil fuel industries," Hernandez said.
"You, as Minister for Public Services, also didn't hesitate to blow up the fees of board directors by up to 80 percent - despite being warned that doing so without commensurate increases in funding would risk taking resources away from the frontline workers who are striking now. "
Hernandez said there was still an opportunity to do the right thing and resolve the strikes by paying the workers what they were worth.
"Stop the clownish, desperate stunts and show some real leadership."
About 100,000 workers are expected to walk off the job on Thursday, including nurses, senior doctors, dentists, social workers and teachers.
The unions represented include: the Public Service Association, New Zealand Nurses Association, New Zealand Education Institute, Post Primary Teachers Association and Association of Salaried Medical Specialists.
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