It would be easy to buckle down and take the Government’s attacks on the chin. It would be easy to accept the ridiculous claim that a Government that could find $20b for tax cuts, $2b for a few helicopters, hundreds of millions to pay Hyundai to not build us ferries, and billions for uneconomic road projects, can’t scrape together a fair deal for these essential workers.

It takes bravery to stand up to those in power and call out their injustice. It’s hard to take the loss of wages that comes with taking strike action. It is a courageous act to stand up for fair wages and conditions.

It’s rich for this Government to dismiss the striking workers as “political”.

Is it political to stand up against having your wages cut in real terms while the cost of living keeps rising? Is it political to demand pay equity? Is it political to want adequate staffing levels in our hospitals and schools? Maybe it is. If so, it’s politics most Kiwis support.

I’ll tell you what is political – a bunch of well-heeled ministers, who just pocketed a 10% pay rise, thank you very much, rolling out co-ordinated messaging before the strike, with the forlorn goals of turning the public against the workers and the workers against their unions.

Politicians usually, wisely, steer well clear of getting actively involved in pay talks. At the end of the day, in our system, it is the agencies that are the employers and who agree to the contracts. Ministers aren’t meant to get involved. But this current Government seemingly can’t help themselves – and see everything as a chance for a political attack on their “enemies”.

What else is political is the normally neutral head of the public service running the same attack lines as the government of the day. I think Sir Brian Roche has done a disservice to his office and sullied his reputation by joining in ministers’ false attacks on the workers.

False claims about what health workers and teachers are paid to make them appear overpaid and greedy. Falsely saying there’s no money. False statements that the unions have walked away from talks. Falsely asserting unions refused to discuss issues with Ministers.

For starters: this is dumb politics. A low-polling Government that is seen as failing to deliver and uncaring is asking us to believe that, actually, it’s the doctors, nurses, teachers, and other essential workers (some of the most respected members of society) who are the bad guys in this fight.

The Talbot Mills poll shows 65% backed the strike and just 30% of voters buy the Government’s line. All the Government is doing is damaging its own credibility and showing how out of touch it is with voters.

But, worse, all these political attacks are doing permanent damage to the Government’s relationship with the country’s health and education workforce.

This is, at the end of the day, just a set of contract negotiations. I’ve been part of a fair few of those, on both sides of the equation. And I’ll tell you something I’ve learned: no matter how divided the two sides are, you need to work towards a solution in good faith, and you always have to remember that you’ve got to work together afterwards.

National’s ministers, for the most part, lack experience in conducting pay negotiations and seemingly don’t realise or care to understand the damage they are doing.

Because, when the Government eventually caves and allocates more money for salaries and staffing (and, make no mistake, that is how this will end), the damage won’t be undone.

Doctors, nurses, and teachers aren’t going to forget that this Government made them feel unwanted and undeserving. And who can then blame them if they go somewhere they are wanted?

Between them, this Government’s ministers are doing more for the recruiting efforts of the Aussie health and education systems than any ad campaign could ever manage. They’re basically ushering our essential workers to the departure gate.

We have big shortages of education and healthcare workers in this country. Making those shortages worse by their political game-playing during these pay negotiations is the height of irresponsibility.

All I can say to the workers is this: please, don’t let the Government’s vitriol sour you on New Zealand. Remember, instead, all the Kiwis who are behind you in your demand for fair wages and conditions.

We need you. You deserve to be valued. We stand with you. Kia kaha.