Photo: RNZ / Jordan Dunn
A trade union is taking in dozens of house plants after public sector offices across the country ditch them in a move to tighten budgets.
The "Public Service Plant Orphanage," was set up at the Wellington office of the Tertiary Education Union and has seen greenery rolling in its doors since last week, with more still expected.
The plants are the latest to be cut from ministries following a push from the government to see expenditure reduced in public services, and hundreds of jobs lost.
"To me, looks like something to the order of 50, they are both in our offices and in a private garage," the union's national secretary, Sandra Grey, said.
She told RNZ they agreed to the prospect fairly quickly when it was proposed.
"One of our employees works with his sister to lease plants to public sector officers, and last week a whole lot of contracts were cancelled and the plants needed to go somewhere."
Grey said the "major public departments," which the plants had come from had returned them to cut the costs of renting and caring for them.
They were now spread throughout the union's office, but most were in the dedicated orphanage room.
The union is a temporary home for the returned plants. Photo: RNZ / Jordan Dunn
A sign had been put on the front of the room, along with a written note which read, "Leave the light on".
Grey said the union had been watering and caring for the plants, something she said the government clearly could not do.
"It's just this idea that we need to make savings and we'll make them everywhere, it seems an onslaught, even down to your plants."
Plants being removed was just one of many things making public service offices unhappy spaces for staff, she said.
"This is not about the plants, this is about the fact that we have a government that's carelessly cutting into the public sector.
"It just feels really sad that we can't even afford people good offices that have things like plants, and permanent desks, and nice spaces to work in."
Grey said the government owed it to its employees to give them safe environments, where they felt cared for.
"They don't have spaces where people have their family photos or their own pot plants, so they just become very devoid [spaces]," she said.
"Surely they can see this is going too far too far."
Grey said the union office was only temporarily housing the plants before they were loaned to others.
