New Zealand teachers strike ahead of 'hacked' budget release

Tens of thousands of New Zealand teachers joined the country's largest ever education strike on Wednesday, demanding higher pay and shorter hours.

The labor action by almost 50,000 secondary and primary school teachers came a day before Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's center-left government was set to release its first "well-being" budget.

The fiscal policy has been touted as a new way to measure progress by putting "kindness, empathy and well-being" in focus over traditional economic growth indicators.

Talks between the government and teachers unions have stalled for a year, as the government says it will not increase teachers' pay beyond its current offer. The government claims that this would amount to an overall increase of 1.2 billion New Zealand dollars ($786 million/€704 million) over four years.  

"Chronic underfunding of education over the last decade has left teachers underpaid and overworked, which means more teachers than ever are leaving the profession," strike organizers said in a statement.

The strike highlights the difficulties the government faces adding funding to social services and tackling economic inequality at a time unions say low wage growth and rising living costs have put pressures on workers.

Budget hacked

The government was also grappling with a leak of some budget information on Tuesday by the country's opposition party following what the Treasury Department said was a "systematic" and "deliberate" cyberattack.

Treasury Secretary Gabriel Makhlouf said Wednesday hackers attacked government systems 2,000 times over 48 hours and obtained some parts of the budget.     

"Somebody managed to penetrate and get some information, not the whole budget," he told Radio New Zealand on Wednesday.

Police were investigating the cyber breach.

The opposition National Party denied involvement in any illegal activity.

"You read my lips: The National Party has acted entirely appropriately," party leader Simon Bridges told reporters on Wednesday, without divulging how the budget information was obtained.

"We have done nothing illegal. There has been no hacking to obtain the information we've obtained."

cw/msh (AFP, dpa, Reuters)

Every evening, DW sends out a selection of the day's news and features. Sign up here.