Across Aotearoa, thousands of workers from both the public and private sectors have risen up in a show of solidarity against a government that, once again, has demonstrated its commitment to the interests of capital over the lives and well-being of its people. The nationwide hui, Fight Back Together, organised by unions, highlights a growing refusal to accept the state’s anti-worker agenda. This movement is more than just a response to recent reforms like the scrapping of fair pay agreements and the return of exploitative 90-day trials—it is a direct challenge to the entire capitalist system and the state structures that enforce it.
With over 4,500 people gathering at Parliament in Wellington, and another 1,000 in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland), this wave of protests exposes the deep anger within the working class. The state, whether through reformist or conservative governments, always serves the same master: profit. For anarchists, the message is clear—neither the state nor capitalism can ever serve the interests of the working class.
State Repression Disguised as Policy
The first year of the coalition government has been nothing short of an assault on workers’ rights. Council of Trade Unions (CTU) president Richard Wagstaff said it bluntly: this government is hurting people, and workers aren’t going to lie down and accept it. But while union leadership calls for a return to fair pay and job security, we must recognise that these demands, while necessary, do not address the root of the problem. The state, no matter who is in power, will always serve the interests of the ruling class. When workers demand fairness, they are appealing to a system fundamentally built to exploit them.
Between December and June, over 2,000 public service jobs were cut, with nearly 7,000 jobs eliminated across the sector. Public Service Association (PSA) Assistant Secretary Fleur Fitzsimons made it clear that these cuts are causing real harm to workers and their families, but for anarchists, this is not simply the result of bad policy—this is capitalism doing what it was designed to do: reduce workers to disposable cogs in the machinery of profit. The state serves to protect that machinery, ensuring that wealth continues to flow upward, regardless of the human cost.
Rejecting Reform, Embracing Direct Action
Victoria University worker Ti Lamusse joined the protest in Wellington and highlighted the struggles of his fellow staff, many of whom aren’t even earning a living wage. Wages stagnate while the cost of living soars—this is no accident. It is the direct result of a capitalist system that thrives on inequality and the state that enforces it. Lamusse’s call for better wages and conditions reflects the growing discontent among workers, but it also points to a larger truth: the state will never willingly meet these demands. It is only through collective action, solidarity, and direct resistance that we can win anything.
Anarchists know that the solution is not to beg for scraps from the state or hope for a more benevolent government. We must organise ourselves, in our workplaces and communities, to take control of the means of production and build systems based on mutual aid, not exploitation. The thousands who turned out to protest are a powerful reminder of what’s possible when workers unite, but the fight must go further—it must reject the legitimacy of both state and capitalist authority.
The State’s Response: Efficiency for Capital, Suffering for Workers
In response to these protests, Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden defended the government’s policies, arguing that they would create more “efficient” public services. Efficiency, in the language of capital and the state, always means one thing: doing more with less, at the expense of workers. The cuts to public sector jobs, the erosion of workplace protections, and the rollback of fair pay agreements are all designed to strip workers of power and agency, making them more vulnerable to exploitation.
Van Velden’s unapologetic stance is a clear reminder that the state has no interest in the well-being of workers. Its function is to maintain and expand the capitalist system, ensuring that wealth continues to flow into the hands of the few, while the many are left to fight for survival. The government’s justification of these policies as a means to “help workers” is an insult to all those who have lost their jobs or seen their wages stagnate while costs rise. The state and capital are inseparable, and both must be dismantled if workers are to achieve true freedom.
Solidarity and Mutual Aid: The Path Forward
The Fight Back Together protests are an important step in the struggle, but they must not be seen as an endpoint. As anarchists, we know that the state and capitalism cannot be reformed. Instead, we must work towards a society based on mutual aid, self-management, and horizontal organising. The protests show that workers have the power to resist, but that power must be channelled into building alternative systems that reject state control and capitalist exploitation altogether.
This is not a fight that will be won through elections or negotiations with those in power. It is a fight for liberation—a struggle to take back control of our lives, our labour, and our communities. The state and capital will continue to push back against workers’ demands, but we are stronger when we organise collectively, outside of the structures that seek to oppress us.
Let the Fight Back Together protests be a rallying cry for workers across Aotearoa. Now is the time to build networks of solidarity, to fight for a world without bosses, and to create a future where power lies not in the hands of a few, but in the hands of the many. As anarchists, we reject the state’s authority over our lives, and we reject the capitalist system that thrives on our exploitation. The answer lies not in reform, but in revolution.
Now is the time to fight back, and to build the world we know is possible—one of mutual aid, cooperation, and true freedom.