'They should be at work': Christopher Luxon on 10,000 striking public servants

Public Service Minister Paul Goldsmith has criticised public servants planning to strike next week, saying the industrial action is part of a "broader political campaign" to change the government.About 10,000 members of the Public Service Association (PSA) are set to strike on the afternoon of Wednesday, 9 September following prolonged pay negotiations.Affected agencies included the Ministry of Social Development (MSD), the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA), the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) and the Ministry for Ethnic Communities (MEC).Speaking to reporters at Parliament on Tuesday, Goldsmith said the action looked politically motivated."They've got little pamphlets out there saying 'change the government'," he said. "The people of New Zealand will be inconvenienced out of what could be seen as a broader political campaign."Public Service Minister Paul GoldsmithRNZ / Samuel RillstoneGoldsmith said public servants received "very significant" pay bumps under the Labour government and had continued to be offered modest increases."They've got a right to strike, but I think it's poor form."Speaking separately, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says he'd prefer the public servants to be "actually working" instead of striking."They should be at work or they should be around the table negotiating," he said. "But that's up to the agencies that deal with."Need to see improved offer - unionIn response, PSA national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons told RNZ employers needed to come back to the table with an improved offer.She denied Goldsmith's claim that the strike was politically motivated and said ministers should focus on settling the dispute rather than attacking the union."Union members have endorsed the strike action because the offers in bargaining are not there. We need to see an improved offer from the employers, and the government should support them to do that.PSA national secretary said public servants should get pay increases consistent with the increased cost of living.Supplied"We need to see public servants getting pay increases that are consistent with the increased cost of living."Ministers punt major ministry merger plan into next termIn May, the government announced plans to cut a further 8700 public service roles over the next three years.It also promised to streamline and merge the roughly 40 government departments, but further details have yet to be revealed.A newly released document, reported on Tuesday, revealed Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche last year advocated to reduce the number of government agencies down to between 15 and 20.In his letter to then-minister Judith Collins, Roche said the consolidation would take three to five years and be driven by common technology and "a lot more AI".Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche last year advocated reducing the number of government agencies.RNZ / REECE BAKER"This is not making more MBIEs - in fact we will be shrinking MBIE," he said."This is what you have asked me to do. I will front it and I will defend it, because I think it is the right thing to do."Goldsmith said no decisions had been made on the final make-up of the public service: "That's something that the next government will consider."Asked what had taken so long, Goldsmith said the programme was a "reasonably complex exercise".He said National would take a public service policy into the election, but would not say whether it would identify a desired number of government departments.Luxon said his government would pursue "major reform" in its second term."I've been pretty straight up to say: we've got way too many agencies and way too many ministries, and we need radical simplification."