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Speaker 1: As the teachers head back to school today, Like all

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Speaker 1: the other strikes, you know what, nothing got achieved, never does.

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Speaker 1: For a strike to work, you need to scare people.

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Speaker 1: You need to bring a place to a standstill. Cook straight, fairies.

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Speaker 1: Bus and train services unavailable for weeks on and that's

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Speaker 1: what works. But those days are gone, of course, thank

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Speaker 1: the Good Lord. These days it's a day here, a

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Speaker 1: day there. I mean, yes, we get you're not happy,

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Speaker 1: Yes you might deserve a better deal, but your day

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Speaker 1: off with you one minute of placard waving on a

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Speaker 1: TV news bullet and that hasn't watched anymore the way

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Speaker 1: it used to be. Doesn't really shift the dial, does it.

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Speaker 1: I think? Also, the country has changed in the past

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Speaker 1: few decades. Although unionism had a bit of a spike

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Speaker 1: under the Sixty Years of Labor, the Employment Contracts Act

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Speaker 1: of the early nineties largely broke the unions for good,

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Speaker 1: not literally. But when people got a choice, they chose

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Speaker 1: to back themselves. Do you know what I wish? I

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Speaker 1: wish those who are unionists could see the freedom and

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Speaker 1: potential of non union opportunity. I mean, no, not all

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Speaker 1: jobs can be individualized, but most can and teaching is

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Speaker 1: one of them. We all know good teachers, great teachers,

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Speaker 1: ordinary teachers, the same way we all know good weight

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Speaker 1: is restaurants and doctors and accountants, retail outlets in a

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Speaker 1: nation of small business. It tells us we back ourselves.

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Speaker 1: We like to back ourselves. We revel in the idea

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Speaker 1: that we and our skills, in our determination can make

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Speaker 1: a decent living. The fact thete response to merit based

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Speaker 1: pay for teachers goes something like, oh well, how would

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Speaker 1: you judge on exam results? It shows just how little

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Speaker 1: they understand their individuality and ability to make a difference.

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Speaker 1: It's like that Radio New Zealand report last week where

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Speaker 1: most of them thought they're in a sunset industry, when

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Speaker 1: in fact the exact opposite is true. It's Stockholm syndrome.

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Speaker 1: Your captors, the unions have told you this is the

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Speaker 1: only way. It isn't, never has been. I've argued this

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Speaker 1: for years, of course, and I've got nowhere. But that

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Speaker 1: doesn't make the argument a bad argument. What I know,

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Speaker 1: like hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders know, is that

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Speaker 1: being your own boss, your own person, is a winning

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Speaker 1: formula if you want to win. I know, like hundreds

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Speaker 1: of thousands of other New Zealanders. I love my job

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Speaker 1: in my lot. I don't see the same fizz from teachers.

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Speaker 1: Why do you reckon that is? For more from the

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Speaker 1: Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to News Talk SETB from

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Speaker 1: six am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.