The Government is blasting the secondary teachers union for calling a strike. 

Post Primary Teachers' Association members will put down the tools next Wednesday, rejecting a three-percent pay increase over three years.

Tens of thousands of healthcare workers are also preparing to walk off the job on two separate days next month.

Public Service Minister Judith Collins told Mike Hosking it seems the union spent more time on its marketing, than it did at the bargaining table.

She's urging teachers to stop using kids as political footballs and get a union that actually cares about them. 

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