Darien breaks ranks

David Shearer said yesterday that Labour was staying out of the Ports of Auckland/MUNZ dispute. Within a matter of hours, Darien Fenton had posted on Red Alert; she blogged:

There’s been some chatter around about Labour’s position on the Ports of Auckland dispute.

At our core Labour believes that all Kiwis deserve decent jobs with fair pay, that they should have certainty around their work hours and conditions and their families need to know that they will come home safe and sound at the end of the day.

And while I’m at it, Labour will strongly oppose any suggestion that the Ports of Auckland be privatised. It is a public asset belonging to the people of Auckland, and needs to be kept for the benefit of future generations.

Sure, employers can seek reasonable efficiencies, effective labour utilisation and a fair return on investment. The Ports are an important part of our transport infrastructure and they need to be operating as productively and efficiently as possible.

But good faith bargaining and working together to find common ground is the way to achieve this, not wholesale redundancies and contracting out.

Labour is concerned about the increasing casualisation of the workforce in New Zealand. What this does is create uncertainty and stress for workers and their families – and, as we have seen, can cost lives.

Now if that's not a justification for the union's stance from Labour's industrial relations spokeswoman, we don't know what is. If David Shearer is trying to distance the Labour Party from the union movement, then Darien Fenton has just fired a warning shot across his bows.

And Cactus Kate has already fisked Ms Fenton's post, especially her argument on casualisation; the Prickly One blogs:

The problem with MUNZ's, Fenton's and the left's argument about casualisation is that right now MUNZ is pursuing a case against POAL in the Employment Court to prevent the Port offering permanent jobs to "lashers".

This is not a joke. They are AGAINST casuals getting permanent jobs. The POAL has proceeded to employ on a permanent basis.

Hang on some may say, is the Union not bravely leading the struggle against "casualisation" along with Third Woman on the Wharf, Helen "Clean Up" Kelly and the left?

You may think so, but not when the Union bullies (mainly old, white crusty's like the charming couple we met yesterday on this blog) have the top jobs and like to take the overtime at their much higher rates rather than allow the lower paid workers to get permanent jobs.

See - it is never quite that straightforward with Union bullies is it Darien? Best you stay out of it then and go back to watching the Mad Butcher specials for some weekend shopping.

Well; fancy that. One one hand MUNZ Local 13 is prepared to see jobs at PoAL go down the gurgler rather than accept casualisation. And on the other, MUNZ Local 13 is fighting PoAL to PREVENT casual workers getting permanent employment.

It's hardly surprising that David Shearer is staying out of this mess. Who in their right mind would want to hang their hat on a MUNZ hook right now?