One of the largest strikes in New Zealand's history is taking place, involving employees of public hospitals and schools, according to Radio New Zealand.

More than 100,000 teachers, nurses, and doctors are participating in the protest, unhappy with their wages and working conditions. “The government is out of touch with reality and seems to neither value the work of doctors and teachers nor the workers themselves,” said Richard Wagstaff, representative of the organizing committee, the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions.

The council, which includes the Public Service Association (PSA), NZNO, the New Zealand Education Institute Te Riu Roa (NZEI), the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA Te Wehengarua), and the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS), states that the main demand of the strikers is higher wages.

The government’s latest proposal, guaranteeing a 5% wage increase over 16 months for doctors and 2% from June 2025, followed by another 1% from June 2026 for nurses, was deemed insufficient by the union. “The New Zealand Ministry of Health must listen to workers’ voices and return to the negotiating table with a wage offer that reflects the value of healthcare professionals to the public health system. In addition, hospitals must be properly staffed, and delays in recruiting new personnel must end,” the national medical workers’ union stated.

For teachers, the Ministry of Education offered a 4.7% salary increase over 12 months, but unions rejected it as “not meeting the interests and needs of teachers and secondary school students.” “This offer is far worse than anything we’ve been offered before, so we decided to strike,” said PPTA President Chris Abercrombie, adding that teachers will continue striking and will hold two more protest actions on October 29 and November 5.