A Dear Len letter

Written By: - Date published: 11:20 am, March 8th, 2012 - 103 comments
Categories: Unions - Tags: , ,

Dear Len,

I know you have been doing a lot. The Auckland Plan is looking great. But I’m afraid we’re going to have to break up.

I delivered your leaflets in the rain. I erected your hoardings across Auckland. I phoned and canvassed support for you. I encouraged my friends to vote for you.

But it’s over.

Frankly, I find your protestations that you could not help the 292 sacked wharfies asking to be able to work to live and not live to work offensive. Don’t play the victim: your salary is too big.

You could have acted. The Council could have passed a motion instructing the Auckland Council CCO to instruct the Ports CCO to come to a compromise. The Port is a Council controlled organization and these entities are bound to be good employers.  Further, s65 Performance monitoring

  1. A local authority that is a shareholder in a council organisation must regularly undertake performance monitoring of that organisation to evaluate its contribution to the achievement of—
    1. the local authority’s objectives for the organisation; and
    2. (if applicable) the desired results, as set out in the organisation’s statement of intent; and
    3. the overall aims and outcomes of the local authority.

If the council can monitor performance the Council can state that the Port is not meeting its requirements and instruct the board to come to a compromise. Otherwise the section is quite meaningless.

We know the legislation constrained you immensely. But you could still have acted. You made a decision that it was inappropriate to intervene. You made that decision. The legislation did not make it for you.

But even if I am wrong and you couldn’t have done anything, nothing constrained your voice. You could have called for compromise. You could have said that a liveable city means well paid work forces and the right work-life balance. You could have condemned the misinformation campaign. You could have stood up for the people, who elected you.

Your silence is exactly why the Labour party and the backing for Labour people like you are dying. You turned you back on people who turned out to support you by voting for you, by delivering your leaflets and by erection your hoardings.

You took the easy option. You chose to be silent so the right could not paint you as a unionist when you run for re-election. I don’t know about you but I’m proud to be union. I’m proud ordinary New Zealanders are able to demand better wages and conditions. I’m proud of the working week and public holidays. I’m proud that the radical notion of fairness could be included in workplace relations.

You had a choice. And your protestations you didn’t ring hollow in the ears of the 292 families you have thrown onto the scrap heap to protect brand Len.

So it’s over. You don’t know me. But I put many hours into your campaign. Have fun running for re-election without it and the efforts of those who think like I do.

Yours Sincerely,

An activist

Jimmy Reid

103 comments on “A Dear Len letter ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. Kevin 1
    8 March 2012 at 12:15 pm

    Len Brown is a spineless jellyfish. All Auckland Council employee’s be warned, your boss won’t back you.

    • ghostwhowalksnz 1.1
      8 March 2012 at 3:05 pm

      Hes not the boss. The Council CEO is the employer of the staff.

      • the sprout 1.1.1
        8 March 2012 at 7:21 pm

        True, but he is also supposed to be a spokesperson who represents his constituents – instead, like the coward he is, he sat back and silently watched 

        • ghostwhowalksnz 1.1.1.1
          8 March 2012 at 8:08 pm

          So its a bad thing that he isnt a motormouth.

        • the sprout 1.1.1.2
          8 March 2012 at 8:48 pm

          good comeback!
          i guess that completely justifies Brown selling out the workers he pretended to represent.

          • Tom Gould 1.1.1.2.1
            8 March 2012 at 9:19 pm

            These workers sold themselves out by giving in to their own greed for just a little bit more, and now they want to blame someone else for the inevitable outcome? Will they turn down the redundancy cheques on principle too? Yeah right.

            • RedLogix 1.1.1.2.1.1
              8 March 2012 at 9:22 pm

              These workers sold themselves out by giving in to their own greed for just a little bit more,

              What little bit more Tom?

            • Frank Macskasy 1.1.1.2.1.2
              8 March 2012 at 9:59 pm

              ???

              WTF are you taking About, Tom?

              • fender …
                8 March 2012 at 11:00 pm

                Tom has no idea what he’s talking about. He typifies the lazy-minded fools that swallow the crap produced by the misinformation regime.

  2. Pete 2
    8 March 2012 at 12:18 pm

    “by delivering your leaflets and by erection your hoardings”

    Much laughter 🙂

  3. The Baron 3
    8 March 2012 at 12:25 pm

    How does this play out at the next election?

    Lefty tribalists walk away from Len; lefty moderates remain. Lefty vote split.

    United right straight through the middle.

    Don’t get me wrong here; while I don’t agree with your grievances, I certainly understand where they are coming from. But this all makes for pretty dire implications for a continued lefty prescence in City Hall come next elections…

    • Colonial Viper 3.1
      8 March 2012 at 12:30 pm

      United right straight through the middle.

      There’s a united Right Wing operating out of Auckland? Someone please update Rodney Hide!

    • Uturn 3.2
      8 March 2012 at 12:31 pm

      Concern troll is… concerned.

      • The Baron 3.2.1
        8 March 2012 at 2:27 pm

        Fuck off uturn. If you only wanna hear from fellow fanbois, then stick to the lab party conferences huh.

        • ghostwhowalksnz 3.2.1.1
          8 March 2012 at 3:07 pm

          Concern troll is more concerned, and wants more oil for putting out the fire

    • Blighty 3.3
      8 March 2012 at 1:35 pm

      “united Right”. There’s your first hurdle. Your two candidates last time couldn’t equal Brown’s vote.

      Then, you assume Brown will be able to gain a meaningful fraction of the Left’s votes. Not with no money and soldiers he won’t.

      Don’t get me wrong. It’ll be too close for comfort but unless Brown holds on to a lot of votes and the Right miraculously unites and increases its vote (and that won’t happen unless they come out strongly against asset sales) then an alternative left candidate like Mike Lee can win.

      • The Baron 3.3.1
        8 March 2012 at 2:36 pm

        Lots of “yours” there Blighty, making a crapload of assumptions about my voting preferences.

        So to clarify – I’m less into the authoritarian bigot that is John Banks than I am into the waffly open-chequebook that is Len Brown. I voted for neither. In fact, I didn’t vote at all.

  4. Colonial Viper 4
    8 March 2012 at 12:27 pm

    By Len Brown’s own logic Auckland can now disenfranchise and casualise workers throughout its own workforce for the ‘greater good’.

    In fact, just bring in Chinese, Somalian and Korean workers at $13.50/day, and ratepayers will save even more.

    The logic ends with the extermination of decent paying steady jobs for workers. While senior managers somehow continue to have very well paid, full time, permanent contracts with generous redundancy terms.

  5. Te Reo Putake 5
    8 March 2012 at 12:29 pm

    Time to appropriate the tag given the previous leader of the British Labour Party, I’m afraid.
     
    Gordon Brown bottled the call for a snap election when he took over from Blair and now we have our own Bottler Brown who has let the city of Auckland down, turned his back on 300 of his staff and as Jimmy Reid points out, will have to win re-election without the practical support of many of those who got him the job in the first place.
     
    Not that re-election will turn out to be a problem. On this form, he’s almost certainly going to be endorsed by NACT’s AK local body franchise anyway.
     
     

    • the sprout 5.1
      8 March 2012 at 7:26 pm

      On this form, he’s almost certainly going to be endorsed by NACT

      just like the equally silent David Shearer 

  6. Frank Macskasy 6
    8 March 2012 at 12:36 pm

    Well written, Jimmy.

    Pete, your 12:18 schoolyard humour does you no credit.

  7. prism 7
    8 March 2012 at 12:41 pm

    When I heard Len Brown give his excuses this morning for not being able to do anything about the Ports of Auckland situation, I was reminded of the hype surrounding Obama who was going to be acting for the betterment of all. And Len Brown made the comment that the port hadn’t been returning its potential in dividends so that is presumably why it is necessary to have a 12 per cent return which is in high risk finance company territory and double the satisfactory but not exciting 6% of recent times.

    It’s interesting that the intermediate entity running the port is made of Government appointees. An excellent way for the right to divvy up the country to suit themselves. Maui couldn’t match this lot. Meanwhile Auckland ratepayers are not seeing anything but high user pays and rates steadily…guess…rising.

    • queenstfarmer 7.1
      8 March 2012 at 2:56 pm

      I am curious to know where this 12% return target came from. Aspirational, sure. But it does seem rather on the high side.

      • lprent 7.1.1
        8 March 2012 at 3:42 pm

        It was an agreement between the Ports of Auckland and the council. PoA is owned by Auckland Council Investments which is directly owned by the council. The statement of intent is here. Look at page 6

        POAL’s ROE increases from 6.3% to 12.0% over the following 5 years

        The rationale for the increased dividend is discussed in this transcript at stuff. That essentially comes down to “we have a monopoly and we’re not making enough money out of it”.

        The driving force behind it all is that the council sees this as a way to keep the rates down.. As Christine Fletcher charmingly points out earlier in the dispute.

        I don’t know the numbers yet but this will have an effect on the revenue available to council and potentially the rates. This isn’t just a stoush with the unions. This is about the economic future of Auckland and the employment of Aucklanders.

        Does that mean we put the rates up? Money doesn’t grow on trees. If we are not going to get the revenue coming through from the port then the money will have to be found elsewhere and we may have to cut services.

        You look around the world, ports today are very competitive, and we can’t just sit back idly waiting for business to come to us. If we are serious about our economy in Auckland then we have to be serious about how we are positioning the key infrastructure we have got to facilitate that growth.

        Damn, and I’d thought that the ports are a service and that they were there to allow other productive businesses to flourish… But evidentially their primary purpose is to suck cash from businesses to pay rates. Go figure.. How mistaken I am. 😈

        • Herodotus 7.1.1.1
          8 March 2012 at 4:00 pm

          Bang on – The real issue is that Auckland council is spending up larger than their reveune base warrents, and is scared of rate payer revolt so has to look at easier targets to source money. And from a management point of view cutting wages to me implies that there the management team is totally inappropiate and one dimensional, and has looked at the 2nd easiest means of making more money (The easiest is to place a halt on preventative maintenance, and reek the short term profits) pity the overall costs far exceed any gains- just like those commented on above redundancies, loss of customers.
          I do feel sorry for Len as no one else who voted for the increase in dividends is standing tall in support, he is being represtented as the sacrificial lamb.

        • queenstfarmer 7.1.1.2
          8 March 2012 at 5:13 pm

          The Statement of Intent doesn’t actually say where 12% came from. Was it just plucked out the air? – “hey let’s just aim to double our return to 12%”. I would hope there is more to it than that – e.g. some analysis showing that a port such as Auckland’s should be returning at least X%, etc.

          • lprent 7.1.1.2.1
            8 March 2012 at 5:55 pm

            Read the transcript that I also linked to. It refers to a survey of other ports. I haven’t located that survey. But it was a middle of the workday so I was limited in my google time.

            However a ROE at that level in my opinion requires a barrier to competition (like natural monopoly allowing ratcheting of prices, innovation, or highly effective previous investment that gave a competiive advantage) or high risk (like finance companies). Natural monopoly in this case is identified in the transcript.

          • Rich 7.1.1.2.2
            8 March 2012 at 6:44 pm

            You’d imagine they could make nearer their 12% by closing the port and building waterfront apartments. Maybe then all the industrial firms in South Auckland might shut down, and then they could bowl Penrose and build more flash apartments.

            • Gabriel White 7.1.1.2.2.1
              8 March 2012 at 10:42 pm

              I heard that %6 is a decent return for a port, which is mostly there as infrastructure to keep the rest of the economy buoyant. I also heard it costs 3 times more to carry containers from Auckland than Sydney, dwarfing any benefits gained by casualising staff.

  8. insider 8
    8 March 2012 at 12:42 pm

    Sorry the Auckland Plan is just awful. It is condemning Aucklanders to huge rates rises because a bunch of councillors and other social planners want to try and control issues the council shouldn’t be trying to control.

    • tc 8.1
      8 March 2012 at 12:53 pm

      A fair chunk of the rises will be underinvestment and overspending by Blinky/Fletcher/Hubbards council and a watercare that’s been fleeced like POA without consideration for netwrork reinforcement.

      Remember blinky banging on about quality people and all those highly paid consultants, then there’s the cost of Boags recruitment and the calibre of mates brought in against a backdrop of no real IT consolidation of merit leaving a massive technology spend at akl ratepayers door.

      There’s a reason these amalgamations take years of planning/execution if you want an efficient low cots operation out the other side….a single ratings system alone can take years but then it was never about efficiency or anything other than rush in, slam through a structure that sets us up to asset strip it….thanks rortney you can go now, the previous lord mayor will take your place.

      Brown had nothing to lose by standing up for a negotiated outcome within this structure as it would’ve shown everyone what a bunch of RWNJ’s he got on his council, the path he’s chosen is odd to say the least IMO.

      • prism 8.1.1
        8 March 2012 at 10:33 pm

        There’s a reason these amalgamations take years of planning/execution if you want an efficient low cots operation out the other side….a single ratings system alone can take years but then it was never about efficiency

        The amalgamation has been a fact for quite a while yet efficiency and the interaction between the various old rating bodies, and between them and the supershitty, has been noticeably lax. Pay your rates outside your area, in time, and then receive sombre overdue warnings, and penalties. Time wasted trying to contact and advise the situation is lost time and frustration and stress is the result. Neither actual credits nor accounts received information is passing at modern speed between some local govts, I think in some cases the information is collated and disseminated monthly.

  9. Craig Glen Eden 9
    8 March 2012 at 1:00 pm

    !00% agree with the post. Len Brown is a disgrace, there is nothing worse than a sell out. When Conner Roberts comes looking for support for Len with pamphlets and hoardings in the next campaign he can bend over and kiss my arse.

  10. captain hook 10
    8 March 2012 at 1:13 pm

    too much sucking up to the gnats and palling around with fran sullivan and letting the tories make policy went to his brain.

  11. Fortran 11
    8 March 2012 at 1:13 pm

    Let’s hope Mike Lee will stand for Mayor at the next election.
    Len should B.g. .r off – he has proven to be less than useless.
    And he calls himself Labour ?

    • AAMC 11.1
      8 March 2012 at 2:08 pm

      He’s just confirming to me what I would expect from Labour, or any Politician for that matter! We really do only have the options of woefully incompetent and overtly criminal to represent us in this “Democracy” don’t we!

  12. Dave Kennedy 12
    8 March 2012 at 1:13 pm

    Excellent letter, I hope you sent it. Len has lost sight of the fact that prosperity should be shared.
    http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.co.nz/2012/03/ports-profits-people-prosperity.html

  13. fabregas4 13
    8 March 2012 at 2:10 pm

    Seemed to me that he had chosen who to support when he spoke on RNZ this morning. Comments such as “the original offer was close” made port workers appear inflexible and blamed them for the impasse. I agree with people here saying that this is the beginning of the end of a decent work relationship. When has it been so wrong that workers can have some security in their jobs, some respect from employers and a decent level of pay? Brown promised much but this is the end of my support for him too. In fact Banks winning would have been better – at least I wouldn’t have felt so betrayed.

  14. Tiger Mountain 14
    8 March 2012 at 2:28 pm

    What a “joe hunt” Len has turned out to be. The lesser evil argument for supporting social democrats into political office is sure wearing out its welcome as far as I am concerned.

    In “polite” company us far lefties are frowned on when we draw attention to the class peace approach of Labourites–and then this sellout of hundreds of working families. Learn from history.

  15. Rosemary 15
    8 March 2012 at 3:27 pm

    Len Brown deserves the level of complete and utter disdain with no room for forgiveness. Just like the Maori Party for selling out Maori, and just like the Labour Party for selling out the poor, and just as is likely Peter Dunne for selling our assets. These pieces of filth need to be binned in the same long drop as the nasty filthy pieces of poo Odgers, Slater and Farrar. They are all of the same ilk. The sooner we realise this and act upon it the better off we’ll all be. Hone is the only one talking sense these days.

    • johnm 15.1
      9 March 2012 at 5:32 pm

      I agree Rosemary I detest their conceited, arrogant contempt for decency and a respect for the wishes of ordinary kiwis. Most feel this but hesitate to spell it out. They are hated but in some parts of the World though justified hate speech is considered a crime as it may incite others to a crime. So it’s an expression we probably should retreat from.

  16. Ad 16
    8 March 2012 at 3:37 pm

    Does anyone mind if I list what the Mayor is dealing with right now?

    – The first integrated budget of the new amalgamated Auckland, just out to the public. Ten years worth of financial direction.

    – An alternative funding plan that is not supported by government and indeed by July will likely turn into a shit-fight.

    – A draft Auckland Plan as yet still unfinalised; a plan with no legislative bind upon central government whatsoever. Thirty years worth of direction.

    – A transport program me that is far more adventurous than the government wants, with a couple of billion missing and nowhere to get it – and within the RLTP a binding common accountability framework between central and local government transport policy.

    – A central government that has little patience for such local squabbles and is largely caught between the ratings agencies on the one had forcing it to get back from debt, and rebuilding the second largest city in the country from rubble.

    – A model of corporatised governance so extreme that it has no precedent in our history, and little precedent in the OECD

    Never ever been done before.

    I wouldn’t suggest anyone be grateful, but no-one else has ever had to deal with this combination of intersecting events or forces, at least not in this country anyway.

    And I am not for a moment suggesting letting central government off the hook. Even if Shearer is.

    Nor would I suggest anyone give Brown a break. He needs to operate the levers of power far more adroitly, more speedily, and start generating some results for prospective voters.

    But I don’t think there’s anyone else who would have come within a bulls roar of holding it together this far. Go through all of the Councillors name by name, see what counter-scenarios you come up with.

    Go through the failed candidates. Or indeed any major name you could think of out there.

    New Zealand just gave birth to a civic version of Fonterra. If only Brown or the Government would allow Auckland to be bolder, more visionary.

    What we have instead is brutal compromise from the beginning.

    But what he has delivered – what central Government just isn’t apparently capable of doing – is saying here is a plan, this is where we are going, this is how we will measure it, this is how much it will cost. Never ever been done before.

    Don’t give him a break. Give him time – give him another term.

    • Rich 16.1
      8 March 2012 at 6:45 pm

      Doesn’t the council employ a whole lot of bloody expensive managers to like, help with that sort of thing?

    • QoT 16.2
      8 March 2012 at 6:46 pm

      Yeah, those 292 wharfies and their families should just suck it up and live off, um, their extensive savings and property portfolios for the next two years. Then Len’ll have the guts to stand up for them.

    • just saying 16.3
      8 March 2012 at 7:01 pm

      How much is he being paid?

      I’m sure someone could be found to work for a quarter of the price. Maybe he could sit by the phone and wait to find if his talents are needed for most of next term, and contribute at a vastly reduced rate, as and when?

      You don’t offer someone who repeatedly betrays their supporters, and then whines when called to account, “another term”. As for the probability that this will mean a right-wing mayor – I guess that’s something else we have to thank him for. Meanwhile he is being extremely well paid for the next little while, and has another well paid career to fall back on. He could thank his lucky stars, after what he has doomed these families to, and stop acting like a 13-year old who imagines the world revolves around him, and that he is being victimised if the rest of the world doesn’t fall at this feet in appreciation of his wonderfulness. And reflect on his own contribution to the further development of the low-wage, stability and working conditions of the majority of the workforce.

      But nah – it’s all about poor little Lennie.

    • Frank Macskasy 16.4
      8 March 2012 at 10:07 pm

      AD, I respect your comments – you obviously know your stuff. And given any other situation, I agree with you. (Especially how National is trrying to sabotage Brown’s light rail project.)

      But 300 Port workers – do we give them time?

      And in a way, it’s not just about these 300 workers – smashing the Maritime Union will mean the further crippling of the Union movement in this country.

      Do you doubt how important that is? Just flip over to “Kiwiblog” or “Whaleoil” (you may want to wear a bio-hazard suit for the latter – it’s *icky* even by RWNJ standards) and read the vile anti-Union hate sentiment being expressed there.

      This isn’t just abiut MUNC anymore. It’s gone beyond that. This is about as close to “Class War” as New Zealand has been since 1951.

      I don’t think we have much time to give…

  17. indiana 17
    8 March 2012 at 3:46 pm

    How come this letter wasn’t sent to Helen Clark when Airn NZ said they were going to contract out Engineering and Ground handling, before the EMPU in their own words “swallowed dead rats”?

    • Te Reo Putake 17.1
      8 March 2012 at 3:58 pm

      Probably because the people, the worksite and the situation are all completely different from what is happening at POAL. The Air NZ jobs remain well paid and fully unionised, the complete opposite of the plan in Ak.

  18. HappyGoLucky 18
    8 March 2012 at 4:00 pm

    And fuck Conor Roberts too. If he’s the brains behind the Len Brown mayoralty then he’s fucking finished in the Labour Party, as far as I’m concerned.

    • grumpy 18.1
      8 March 2012 at 4:09 pm

      Labour Party????? Are you mad????? When in the last 30 years has Labour done anything for workers?

      • Te Reo Putake 18.1.1
        8 March 2012 at 5:04 pm

        Oh goody, another chance to trot out Monty Python’s ‘Roman’s’ sketch! WFF, four weeks holiday, Kiwibank, Kiwisaver, KiwiRail, Air NZ …. Need I go on?

        • Rich 18.1.1.1
          8 March 2012 at 6:55 pm

          Um:

          – NZ had a nationally owned bank, the BNZ, until it was privatised in 87-89. By Labour.
          – And a nationally owned railway, until it was corporatised by Labour and then privatised.
          – Air NZ was also state owned, until privatised. By Labour.
          – Also, before the fourth Labour government, most employees got a generous super package.

          • Anne 18.1.1.1.1
            8 March 2012 at 7:44 pm

            Come on Rich. You know damm well that wasn’t the Labour Party. That was a small but powerful cabal inside the party who let themselves be captured by the ultra right-wing business tycoons and free marketeers of the day. Labour, under the leadership of Helen Clark, were eventually able to permanently cleanse the party of their influence. In other words, the cabal won a few battles, but happily lost the war!

      • ghostwhowalksnz 18.1.2
        8 March 2012 at 8:16 pm

        How does lowest unemployment rates in a generation sound ? Maybe theres some benefit for workers .

        • Colonial Viper 18.1.2.1
          8 March 2012 at 11:11 pm

          Built on the back of a massive increase in personal and mortgage debt.

      • Frank Macskasy 18.1.3
        8 March 2012 at 10:10 pm

        Here y’go, Dopey Grumpy; http://fmacskasy.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/labour-the-economic-record-2000-2008/

        You’re welcome. (Please leave a gold coin donation for the maritime workers appeal in the box.)

        • Gosman 18.1.3.1
          8 March 2012 at 11:02 pm

          Frank, Just read one of your latest pieces on your blog. Pure comedy gold. Seems you are now promoting the ravings of a AGW denying wacky conspiracy theorist who shares the same stage with the likes of David Icke. You must be so proud.

          • thatguynz 18.1.3.1.1
            8 March 2012 at 11:22 pm

            Not that Frank needs defending – he’s more than capable of doing so himself but suffice to say I’d prefer to read his researched opinions than your “off the cuff” dribble..  At least his eyes are open to differing viewpoints.
             
            Despite your repeated protestations to the contrary, you don’t add value to any “discussion” or debate that you’ve been involved in here..  Perhaps given enough time or latitude that may change but I for one won’t be holding my breath.

            • Colonial Viper 18.1.3.1.1.1
              8 March 2012 at 11:29 pm

              Gosman is good for his diversionary questions and general deflections to irrelevant points.

              • thatguynz …
                8 March 2012 at 11:33 pm

                That’s quite true CV – perhaps I didn’t give quite enough credit where credit’s due 🙂

          • Frank Macskasy 18.1.3.1.2
            9 March 2012 at 5:49 pm

            Seems you are now promoting the ravings of a AGW denying wacky conspiracy theorist who shares the same stage with the likes of David Icke.

            Jeezs, mate, you whine that I don’t entertain opposing viewpoints on my Blog and now you bitch that I’m “promoting the ravings of a AGW denying wacky conspiracy theorist”?! (Not that I know WTF you’re on about. I’m not responsible for your hallucinatory versions of my Blog.)

            Anyway – Make up you mind! Which is it?!

            And since when do I have to run someone’s opinions past your desk, Commissar Gosman, to check for Political Soundness??

            However, that’s by the way.

            What really tickled my fancy was that you’ve “just read one of [my] latest pieces on [my] blog”.

            The real question is; have you actually learnt anything new to broaden your understanding of the human condition? (We live in hope.)

            You must be so proud.

            Reasonably. As of this moment, I’ve had 34,225 views since my Blog’s inception last August. (Not that I know if that’s a good number or so-so, as this is my first blog venture. Lprent and other Blogmeisters might know if that’s a good figure or not..)

  19. pdubyahnz 19
    8 March 2012 at 5:01 pm

    Poor old Len, when you try to please all the people all of the time you end up pleasing none of the people most of the time

    • Colonial Viper 19.1
      8 March 2012 at 11:42 pm

      Poor old Len, when you try to please all the people

      Doesn’t seem to be trying to please about 1000 wharfies and their families now, does he.

  20. rod 20
    8 March 2012 at 5:10 pm

    Careful folks, or we could end up with Cameron Brewer, a John Banks cheer leader and lookalike.

    • Vicks 20.1
      8 March 2012 at 11:01 pm

      God help us all. Brewers beavis or buttheads giggling now he thinks he is playing with the big boys is vile. His premature and public sniffing around the Tamaki electorate before the terminally ill sitting member had stood down was distasteful shameful even for a righty.

      PS I think he looks more like a character from Thunderbirds than Banks.

  21. fisiani 21
    8 March 2012 at 5:40 pm

    Garry Parsloe , the tunnel-visioned strike at all costs union official has destroyed these jobs. no one else. He should hold his head in absolute shame. Thank goodness the workers with sense will be re-employed soon under new bosses and minus their treacherous trade unionist.

    [You have been warned about this before. It’s a form of trolling. Next offense will see a ban. RL]

    • Jackal 21.1
      8 March 2012 at 6:00 pm

      I think PoAL will have an even harder time in the employment court if they start discriminating further against those few Union members who reapply. Under new bosses… are PoAL management getting the sack then? Good job!

    • Tiger Mountain 21.2
      8 March 2012 at 6:12 pm

      You really are a turd on legs Fizz. Parsloe is a great guy and genuine unionist. Go the wharfies!

      If any heads are to be hung in shame they should be Len Brown’s and any pathetic future precariously employed “stevedores” waiting by their mobile phones.

  22. George D 22
    8 March 2012 at 6:09 pm

    Thanks, Jim.

  23. RedLogix 23
    8 March 2012 at 7:00 pm

    I wonder how the ratepayers of Auckland feel about $28m of their money to settle an ancient feud going back to the 1950’s?

    I think the PoAL Board has been quietly told by their National mates to sack their workforce illegally for three reasons:

    1.They know that Len Brown can’t do anything about it within the corporatist framework of the Council and yet the left will blame him for it. Win.

    2. If the Court looks like ruling adversely, then as per the Hobbit dispute, the Govt will simply change the law to cover them. Win

    3. MUNZ will be crushed. Legislation will be introduced later this year to finish off the remnants of the Union movement in this country. Membership is already less than 18% of the workforce, 8% if you leave out the public sector. The goal is to reduce this to zero. Because this is a critical component of Key’s goal to reduce wages, it will come to pass. Win.

    They don’t care about winning a third term. It’s what they can achieve in this one.

    • indiana 23.1
      8 March 2012 at 7:17 pm

      Rate Payers may consider it money well invested

      • Colonial Viper 23.1.1
        8 March 2012 at 11:46 pm

        yeah until they get fucked over. Because it is a simple matter to carve off little bits of society “for the greater good” – right up to the point its your turn to be carved up.

    • Anne 23.2
      8 March 2012 at 7:54 pm

      Superb RedLogix.

      Sit down Standardistas and think about what RedLogix has said. Don’t fall into the trap the Nat. Govt. and their PoAL Board mates have set for you!

    • mickysavage 23.3
      8 March 2012 at 8:19 pm

      Aye Redlogix.  One of the thoughts I have had is that if MUNZ is taken out no one is safe.

    • ghostwhowalksnz 23.4
      8 March 2012 at 8:20 pm

      No you cant make a law to overturn a particular court ruling. They may make a law change which will apply to later industrial disputes

      • RedLogix 23.4.1
        8 March 2012 at 9:01 pm

        I think this govt is capable of it ghost. They’ll use the media to whip up a storm of anti-union hysteria, pass retrospective legislation and get away with it.

        • Frank Macskasy 23.4.1.1
          8 March 2012 at 10:12 pm

          Interesting p.o.v. Red…

          • Colonial Viper 23.4.1.1.1
            8 March 2012 at 11:49 pm

            RL is correct. The Right Wing did not go into this without thinking through desired final outcomes and an exit plan.

            Its also likely POAL placed informants inside the union hierarchy ahead of time.

  24. JamesGeorge 24
    8 March 2012 at 7:15 pm

    Bya all means lambast Len, but don’t overlook all the rest of the labourites who have been silent while this horror show has played out.

    Old ‘wasshisname’ surfaced on “Breakfast” this morning.

    He who hasn’t said anything since demanding and getting the parliamentary leader gig, finally surfaces on TV this morning to tell us “labour doesn’t have a role is this dispute” That he wishes “the parties would go back to arbitration but he wouldn’t force them to” and then caps it off by saying Labour supports all Kiwis “who want to work”.
    Not content with backing lawyer len on his attack on working Kiwis, ‘wasshisname’ expanded the betrayal to insinuate that not only those who engaged in industrial activity were parasites guilty of ‘not wanting to work’, the unwaged also fit that bill.
    As well as turning his back on unionists ‘wasshisname’ casually put the boot into the unemployed also.

    Realistically this is a good thing. The lying bourgeois shitbirds who comprise the parliamentary wing of the labour party have been the enemies of ordinary kiwis since the days of the Lange govt.
    Now they cannot hide from the sad parody of a humanist party that they became it is better that they put themselves out of their misery.

    • George D 24.1
      8 March 2012 at 9:39 pm

      Yeah, there was silence from the Labour Party. I heard that it was ‘tactical’, and that the soft approach was what was going to win things. As it always does…

      • Colonial Viper 24.1.1
        8 March 2012 at 11:55 pm

        and that the soft approach was what was going to win things.

        you need to answer the questions win what exactly?

        And for whom exactly. The answers will be enlightening.

  25. the sprout 25
    8 March 2012 at 7:16 pm

    Thanks for the post Jimmy, I was planning on writing something similar myself.

    Len Brown has proven himself to be a coward – one that’s betrayed the people he pretended to represent, the people who voted for him because he led them to believe he would stand up for their interests. Listening to him on RNZ this morning made me feel disgusted that the left had helped to elect him.

    It’s now time for the Real Left to look for a new Mayoral candidate, not a weak, spineless scab. 

    • ghostwhowalksnz 25.1
      8 March 2012 at 8:13 pm

      Penny Bright represented the far left . and 2700 people supported her. A bit short of becoming Mayor

    • Colonial Viper 25.2
      8 March 2012 at 11:58 pm

      It’s now time for the Real Left to look for a new Mayoral candidate, not a weak, spineless scab.

      I fear the comment misses the point that on gaining high position, siding with the moneyed Right always offers far more personally in both the long term and the short term, than siding with the revolting peasants ever could.

  26. Jenny 26
    8 March 2012 at 8:21 pm

    ‘
    This says it all really

  27. Lazy Susan 27
    8 March 2012 at 10:22 pm

    Your post is bang on. I sent this email to Len last night.

    I am writing to you to express my disgust at what is happening at the Ports of Auckland. I campaigned for you during the local body elections – leaflet dropping throughout the Western suburbs.

    I believed you would rein in the worst excesses of the CCO structure that Rodney Hide set up. Having just watched your interview on Campbell Live I feel betrayed.

    POAL have not acted in good faith yet you clearly throw your support behind the company and criticise the Union for not accepting the initial offer. Having had 25 years of neo-liberalism do you not think it is about time people such as yourself support the improvement of workers conditions rather their further erosion.

    Suggest if you are appalled by Len’s take on this you make your views known to him by email to len.brown@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz

    Also, if in Auckland turn up for the rally on Saturday 4pm at Britomart. Winning this battle is crucial.

  28. Jenny 28
    8 March 2012 at 11:00 pm

    It is really heating up at the wharfies picket at Teal Park, 50 to 60 percent of the passing cars are blowing their horns, even passing police cars, have tooted. Almost every truck driver leaving or entering the port blow their horn.

    Train drivers and almost every bus driver toot even though we have been told that both groups have been warned by their employers not to.

    The residents of Judges Bay have called the police down to try and stop the noise.

    Going from this experience at the picket today, the feeling is that the wharfies have a lot of latent support.

    If the wharfies can mobilise this expression of public support then anything is possible. And the machinations of the Ports of Auckland management and the Council will amount to nothing.

    The success of the rally at Britomart and march to Teal Park for speeches will be an indication of what is possible.

    • Colonial Viper 28.1
      9 March 2012 at 12:00 am

      Nah, the police will protect the scab labour and help smash the picket lines like they always do.

  29. Colonial Viper 29
    9 March 2012 at 12:11 am

    I’d like to ask Eddie and TVOR if it’s 1951 yet.

    You know, because all this optimism about how the union has a winning strategy, and how when MUNZ ask nicely, Labour is going to swing into action stations behind them. So until then we should just be calm, But it isn’t really working out, is it.

    http://thestandard.org.nz/1951-it-aint-for-now/

  30. SOUTH AUCKLANDER 30
    9 March 2012 at 3:18 am

    Hey Mayor Brown, you’ve been a good mayor relatively so far,but this cock-up with the Port is rediculous! You need to do a u-turn, speak up, thats Aklds asset, as by being so, should be doing the right thing by our Akld working men, who deserve to work an 8 hour day, their whanaus need them at home. Dads, Uncles, Grandads, are special people needed by society. Why should people be forced into 12 hour days. 40 hours is the standard working week, why doesn’t The Port, hire some of the unemployed of Akld, re-employ the men they have sacked (plainly wrong) and have 3 x 8 hour shifts.

    That would kick-butt our Port, and we could become an awesome international Port. Hey, wheres all the thinking caps in the business world????

    Common Len, I pay my land rates, and water rates, and hardly ever venture into the City itself, but in protest, I am thinking I will not pay my share on Inner City Aklds Rates, sue me if you like, not sure of your chances, I’m a partner of a man who has been unemployed for 4 years, due to the lack of jobs in this city, Say what, are we the largest City in N.Z. or not? And people can’t seem to get a job in it? Crazy I tell you!!

    Len, do a turn-around, speak up for the people of Akld, it is wrong what has been done, and negotiations need to start again!

    Kia Kaha to those families, who probably, like me, are going to have to go on the Unemployment, due to their men losing their jobs, and now ain’t that great, N.Z.’s social welfare stats are gonna go up! Kia Kaha to all Aucklanders, and Kia Kaha to N.Z.

    How do we let Len know that he needs to speak up? That is the question?

  31. Len (not Brown) 31
    9 March 2012 at 10:05 am

    When confronted over the POA dispute at the “Plan” forum in Takanini last Wednesday Brown said the Airport made a 12% return that’s why the Council wanted 12% from the Port.
    He also said that there were work practices at the Port that “we all know have to change”. He referred to MUNZ as “the old union”, implying that he would like a new (scab) union to replace to replace MUNZ on the Auckland waterfront?
    Brown is worse than a scab – he is a scab herder. Why would any working class people vote for Brown at the the next Council elections?

  32. John72 32
    12 March 2012 at 8:14 pm

    Mathew 20: 1-16
    The problem is not new.