While Auckland's "Labour" Mayor, Len Brown, seems happy for Ports of Auckland to force pay cuts and casualisation on its workforce, others in Auckland’s local government aren't. Yesterday, 28 board members stretching across 10 local boards issued a joint statement calling on Ports of Auckland to abandon its plans and return to the negotiating table:
In an unprecedented move, 28 Auckland Local Board members from 10 different Boards are uniting to call for Ports of Auckland to return to good faith bargaining and drop plans to outsource jobs at the port (a full list of Board Members is below).Its good to see that someone, at least, thinks that politicians should get involved in politics.“Ports of Auckland Ltd is a Council-owned company. We support its operational independence, but the current dispute has escalated to a strategic level. We are particularly concerned that actions being taken by Port management, including what appears to be a pre-determined strategy to contract out port jobs, are inflaming matters”, say the Board members.
These are mostly Labour people, so parts of the party obviously care. But its Parliamentary wing and leadership are still remaining conspicuously silent. David Shearer has apparently just wrapped up his holiday, so maybe we'll hear something from him soon. If not, and Labour stays silent on what should be a core issue, then I think we'll have to lower our (already low) expectations of the party even further.
