Educators and medical personnel from around the district are among the 100,000 workers nationwide on strike today.
In Ashburton, those involved were together in unity outside the Ashburton library this morning, then march towards chessboard for speeches, before standing along West St with sign and placards.
However, due to the red wind warning across Canterbury that action has been cancelled.
Regardless, today the nationwide strike has gone ahead.
Many students and pupils are home from school, and nurses and doctors were due to walk off the job at 11am.
Nationwide the action is being billed as quite possibly the biggest labour action in more than 40 years.
They are on strike as dissatisfaction over pay and working conditions reaches boiling point.
More than 1500 Canterbury health and ACC workers are striking to send the government a loud and clear message that it must invest in staff and the public health system.
They join some 18,000 other PSA members frustrated by government’s pay offers and underfunding of services.
Medical laboratory scientist Sue Lloyd said the failure of government to fund the health system properly meant it was failing patients and workers.
“Due to restrictions on how recruitment is managed, we’re understaffed. We’re doing the work of several people, we’re tired and feel undervalued. We can’t offer the best for patients.
“I don’t feel that we’re listened to or that our needs are being met.
“What do we get for our hard work, an offer that means a pay cut due to inflation? We need more funding, more staff, more money.
“We need to be able to give all New Zealanders access to good timely healthcare.”
Council of Trade Unions president Richard Wagstaff told RNZ the mood for working people is frustration with a government that is out of touch and doesn’t seem to value them or their work – especially in the public sector.
However, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is calling the planned action ‘‘a shame’’, and said, ‘‘I think people are getting sick of unions prioritising the politics over patients, or kids in education and parents being mucked around.’’
More than 36,000 nurses will strike from 11am to 3pm while an estimated 40,000 to 50,000 teachers are on strike.
An estimated 11,500 other healthcare workers, including senior doctors, dentists, social workers and others, will join them.
New Zealand Nurses Association (NZNO) bargaining team member Debbie Handisides said the strike by so many essential public service workforces showed the level of frustration workers were feeling.
They will represent several unions including the Public Service Association (PSA), NZNO, New Zealand Education Institute Te Riu Roa NZEI, Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA Te Wehengarua) and Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS).
Marches and rallies are scheduled throughout the country, including a march in Wellington to Parliament with a rally at 1pm and a march down Queen Street in Auckland meeting in Aotea Square starting at 12pm.
Many schools are closed, and at hospitals, many non-emergency medical procedures delayed.
Police said planning was well under way to ensure safety.
~ Additional reporting RNZ
