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Speaker 1: So almost like a telethon, today's strike action has been

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Speaker 1: built up to a massh stereotype christiendo. They claim the

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Speaker 1: biggest industri real action of forty years, an estimated one

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Speaker 1: hundred thousand nurses, teachers, medical staff, as well as the

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Speaker 1: aggrieved places like ACC. David Seymore, Deputy Prime Minister, of course,

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Speaker 1: but also Associate Health and Education is with us, good.

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Speaker 2: Morning, good morning.

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Speaker 1: How much of this is genuine grievance versus how much

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Speaker 1: of this is making a political statement against the government

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Speaker 1: they don't like.

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Speaker 2: We'll put it this way. I don't think that there

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Speaker 2: would be a member of our cabinet who doesn't want

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Speaker 2: to pay nurses, teachers, doctors as much as possible. On

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Speaker 2: the other hand, there seems to be a disconnect between

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Speaker 2: what some of these unions and their union leadership are

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Speaker 2: demanding versus the reality that most New Zealanders, including those

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Speaker 2: who have to pay the taxes to fund these services,

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Speaker 2: are actually facing. They seem to be demanding things that

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Speaker 2: aren't a reality for most of those people who pay

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Speaker 2: the taxes and actually need the education and health services.

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Speaker 2: I mean, you take a look at nurses start on

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Speaker 2: seventy five thousand under one offer they've received. By next year,

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Speaker 2: a starting nurse would be on eighty six after going

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Speaker 2: up a step end getting an increase that's been offered.

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Speaker 2: On the other hand, you look at teachers, you know,

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Speaker 2: fourteen and a half percent in the last three years.

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Speaker 2: These are not the kind of conditions that most New

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Speaker 2: Zealanders have faced. And so I think there needs to

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Speaker 2: be a question of are these guys facing up to

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Speaker 2: the reality that all New Zealanders face right now trying

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Speaker 2: to solve problems, which is what the government is trying

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Speaker 2: to do, fixing one thing after another or making a

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Speaker 2: political point, and that I think is where a lot

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Speaker 2: of the frustration for people in the government but also

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Speaker 2: New Zealander is up and down the country are facing.

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Speaker 1: Well is it? Because if you believe that poll yesterday,

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Speaker 1: which I actually don't because I think it was opten

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Speaker 1: in at only four hundred, But I mean the majority

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Speaker 1: of people actually back the strike. They think they've got

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Speaker 1: a case. Your argument that you just outlaid as landed flat.

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Speaker 2: I think if you were to ask people should doctors

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Speaker 2: and teachers be paid more or nurses, of course they

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Speaker 2: would say yes. On the other hand, if you put

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Speaker 2: it to them, should we be demanded to give payoffers

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Speaker 2: that are completely out of proportion with what most people

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Speaker 2: in the New Zealand economy have faced in the last

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Speaker 2: three years, then they would say, well, actually, I'm not

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Speaker 2: sure that's fair.

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Speaker 1: No, you have spent the government have spent the best

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Speaker 1: part of the last week saying come back to the table,

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Speaker 1: come back to the table, come back to the table.

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Speaker 1: Have they responded? The unions responded to that in any way,

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Speaker 1: shape or form.

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Speaker 2: Well, it's been mixed, but you can see from the

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Speaker 2: fact that strikes going ahead even after. For example, this

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Speaker 2: morning the Public Services Commissioner said, look, we're prepared to

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Speaker 2: work through the weekend. We think we're there with the teachers,

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Speaker 2: but they're not at the table. They're striking. So I

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Speaker 2: think that tells you everything you need to know.

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Speaker 1: Roche's on holiday. Is that a thing in your mind

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Speaker 1: or not?

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Speaker 2: Well, I don't know his full personal circumstances or what's

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Speaker 2: led to that, so I shouldn't comment on it. But

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Speaker 2: he's made it clear that he's available. I see he

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Speaker 2: was available being interviewed this morning, so he may be

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Speaker 2: across the ditch, but he's still very much on the job.

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Speaker 1: Where does this go post today? We will go back

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Speaker 1: to work, probably not tomorrow for the teachers, but by

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Speaker 1: Tuesday we'll get back then what we just do? What

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Speaker 1: carry on?

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Speaker 2: Well, at some point these union organizers are going to

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Speaker 2: have to face the reality we'd like to pay as

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Speaker 2: much as we can, we also have to balance the

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Speaker 2: needs of all those other New Zealanders who actually pay

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Speaker 2: the taxes, who almost universally haven't had increases in anything

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Speaker 2: like what they're asking for. And at some point, when

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Speaker 2: that reality sinks in, we can get back to fixing

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Speaker 2: what matters and living our lives in New Zealand. But

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Speaker 2: the idea that's because you like something you can make

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Speaker 2: a political pantomime like they appear to be attempting. I

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Speaker 2: just don't think that will wash right.

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Speaker 1: Appreciate time. David Seymour, who's the Associate Health and Education

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Speaker 1: Minister today. Do you believe the poll yesterday the Torbert

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Speaker 1: Mills Pole four hundred people I think was often but

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Speaker 1: but on it. I can't even remember them because it

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Speaker 1: wasn't that interested. It was about sixty sixty five percent

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Speaker 1: allegedly supported the strike. When you broke it down for

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Speaker 1: people who support the coalition versus people who don't support

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Speaker 1: the coalition people who support the coalition. It was even Stevens,

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Speaker 1: and of course most of the support came from the

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Speaker 1: other side of the camp. Eleven past seven, Mike, I'm

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Speaker 1: sick of these strikes. Call their bluff. Next off, it

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Speaker 1: should be a pay cut. The country can't afford it

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Speaker 1: anyway they earn as much like teachers are pushing their luck.

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Speaker 1: It has got to a fascinating thing, or a fascinating stage,

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Speaker 1: or a fascinating time. As far as I can work

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Speaker 1: out that those numbers that David gave, the early day

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Speaker 1: numbers were interesting, but when sixty six percent of teachers

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Speaker 1: are on a six figure salary in a country where

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Speaker 1: the average salary seventy two seventy three thousand dollars, at

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Speaker 1: some point someone's got to go, wait a minute, is

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Speaker 1: this reasonable?

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Speaker 2: For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to

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