Workers take stand against govt in central Dunedin

The prime minister and his "wrecking crew" drew boos from a crowd gathered in Dunedin's Octagon during a stop-work meeting today.

About 350 workers and members of the public gathered with flags and placards at midday.

Unions Otago convenor Andrew Tait told those gathered New Zealand was embroiled in a class war.

"It's clear that Luxon and his wrecking crew are coming after you - they're coming after working-class people as a whole.

"This is class war."

He said the working class needed to unite to fight for workers' rights, particularly for those without unions.

The Dunedin event was part of a nationwide hui - Fight Back Together - which was organised by unions in response to recent policy reforms such as the scrapping of fair pay agreements, and reintroduction of 90-day trials.

About 4500 people attended in Wellington, while an estimated 1000 showed up for the Auckland event, with others held elsewhere.

Council of Trade Unions (CTU) president Richard Wagstaff said the first year of the coalition government had been an unrelenting attack on workers' rights and conditions.

Workers were not going to take the changes lying down, Wagstaff said, speaking at the Parliament grounds in Wellington.

"We need this government to understand that what they're doing really is hurting people, and people aren't going to accept it as thought it has to be that way. We know there's an alternative, and we are going to be pushing hard for that alternative," he said.

More than 2000 public service jobs were cut in the six months from December to June. Meanwhile, nearly 7000 jobs have been cut across the public sector.

 - additional reporting RNZ