Peter Wilson*
Analysis - For a government that's acutely aware of political risk the action it took to curb public service pay was a bewildering aberration.
Jacinda Ardern flanked by Grant Robertson, left, and Chris Hipkins, right.
Photo: RNZ / Dom Thomas
"I can't make any sense of it," said
Heraldcolumnist Shane Te Pou, a former Labour Party activist. "How can the modest fiscal savings involved possibly offset the obvious political cost of inflicting an effective pay cut on tens of thousands of frontline workers who, after all, comprise a significant chunk of Labour's base?"
That was typical of the reaction at the beginning of this week to last Wednesday's announcement. The criticism became a torrent until the government met unions and, as Stuff reported, hit the reset button.