Ryan Bridge: What was the point of the mega strikes?

So 100,000 workers went on strike. Now what? The cost to settle these claims will run into the billions. Easily.  1979 was the last time we a strike this big. A general strike. 300-thousand people. It was Muldoon days. It was over a dispute with driver unions and transport. It went to arbitration and the unions won. This time, senior doctors refused binding arbitration.  Secondary teachers have a few more strikes before Christmas. And the primary teachers have more dates set down for pay talks next month.  You’d have to say, based purely on vibes and a little bit on polling, that the workers win the week. They 've won the PR battle. We're already sick of hearing how much senior doctors get paid. Parents will be sick of their kids missing school. Anymore delayed hip operations and there’ll be hell to pay. If the unions expect strikes to kick off again next year, they might find themselves falling out of favour with workers in the private sector. The median wage is $70k. Private sector workers haven’t been getting the same increases as the public ones. The offer these teachers are rejecting would have almost 80% of them on $100k or more. Base salary.  Arguing for more and dragging our industrial action for to long and you risk looking, well, political. Or greedy. Given the state of the books and the enormous deficit blowout this current lot inherited.  So the unions have won the battle. Can they win the war? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.