And Mayor Len has sent a strongly worded letter from Beijing... but has the horse already bolted?

First Citizen John Key the First bloging here – I sat down with it _ I so down with it – I been planking for very much ages…

All that's been said so far is a "difference in views on board strategies". No indication of which way he's jumped.

Noun 1. malignance – (medicine) a malignant state; progressive and resistant to treatment and tending to cause death.

2. malignance – quality of being disposed to evil; intense ill will
Think that's about right.

Or maybe it's spelt "fiddling while Rome burns".

A mixture of the two? Malignance?.

The injuinction is here:
http://www.justice.govt.nz/courts/employment-court/documents/2012-judgments/2012-%20NZEmpC%2052-%20MUNZ%20V%20POAL%20LTD%20-%20Oral%20Judgment.pdf

Time is hopefully running out…

that is the Jukp to the right Nats answer – it is still worth asking the question and looking at the range of possible solutions that extends well past the mixed ownership PPP model.

I was trying to work out whether you making a strange double pun – deficit + defecate = I guess that's still a possibility...

Steve B – the Union wont be finished until…

PoAL can save their face or their arse – but they can't save both at once.

The latest impasse comes after the workers were locked out last week due to health and safety concerns.

In a press release, a Ports of Auckland spokeswoman said it is unrealistic for union members to retain to work until all health and safety requirements are met.…

I'm undecided if that's through malice or ignorance. The latter seems more likely to me – to not know that what you're doing is wrong because it doesn't hurt you enough. In that case you can…

That is what I can't get my head around whether it is Labour or National – it is a narrow set of interests that rule and lobby the govt and continually…

What's difficult about the idea that it's in a narrow set of interests, those of…

I would call that, Mr Brownlee's response, part of the (massive) leap to the right (away from the centre) that the Nats are now driving towards – realising they effectively have a one seat margin they are going hard out making mayhem while they still…

I would call that a complaint to the Ombudsman.

http://www.poal.co.nz/contact_us/

They have a facebook page –
http://www.facebook.com/AKLPort?ref=ts

I attempted to post this to their wall.

I feel it is time to initate a mass letter writing campaign to the Directors of ACIL and POAL and also the Mayor expressing disgust at what is…

Went looking to email him a week ago to do just that. Went around in circles on the Council website and…

What the process has done, (setting up the Super City and appointing the Directorships) is to remove the control of both ACIL and POAL from the elected representatives.

So when these appointments were…

We seriously have to be asking how much money is this dispute costing, now? The lockout is a really bizarre twist. Len Brown might be getting his A into G, though, finally.

Auckland Council own all the shares (1,000 of them) in ACIL – ACIL own all the shares (156005192 of them) in POAL.

For a company held by individuals, it does.

If I own a chain of dairies, and hire a CEO to run them, I can still mandate that they don't sell tobacco, for instance, even though it makes them generate less money. As the sole shareholder,…

If there's one SOE that's usually worked well, it's NZ Post, which has retained the best of both public and private worlds with minimal state interference, and has…

Especially when Auckland Council only holds 1000 shares and Auckland Council Investments Limited owns 156005192 shares.
However, the constitution of ACIL must be reviewed before 30 June 2012…

The holdings are:

The POAL Shareholding:
http://www.business.govt.nz/companies/app/ui/pages/companies/400910/shareholdings

The ACIL Shareholding
http://www.business.govt.nz/companies/app/ui/pages/companies/3089629/shareholdings

I can find rortism, (from management) and poortism.(for stevedores).
Sack the Board, Sack Smith from Parliament, Save our Assetts, Save our Port!

It also goes to show that thinking globally and acting locally seemed to work for the MUNZ.

Scandal?
There must be something dodgy to chuck at the fan, a letter from a Minister or something like that.

how?

POAL have put the redundancy and contracting out bizzo on hold – as a result of judicial mediation.

I would like to think that The POAL may perhaps have had in the judicial mediation the matter explained to them by Judge Travis, who may have had to advise them…

Which is what the bastards want.
Why can't we be more like Canadia In Canadian labour law, the Rand formula (also referred to as automatic check-off) is a workplace situation where the payment of trade union dues is mandatory…

http://news.msn.co.nz/nationalnews/8436838/aussie-league-players-support-port-workers

He says in that editorial "It seems plain in this dispute that the port does not want to reach a settlement...It suggests the negotiations were a pretext in a plan to destroy the…

Like I said back on Page 3
So, there is a difference between “Who you work for” and “Who pays you” so who looks after your rights? You got it , nobody.

The…

How to tell a contractor from an employee

exactly as intended

If anything, it’s being left to the courts, as was also the case in the 1998 Aussie dispute. The articles on the councillors’ decisions didn’t name which…

http://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/opinion/steve-braunias/6560746/The-Secret-Diary-Of-Len-Brown

I was going to post on why facilitation hadn't tkane place and Prof Howarth morning report thang – along the lines that the MUNZ didn't see the dismissal bombshell…

Apolitical in the sense that they will unbiasedly accept patronage from any and all governments / elected officials.

Speaking as a Dunedin resident, and looking at the cost benefit to the city of our rugby purpose built stadium, they are most definitely political. It is just they do not specifically endorse a particular political party.

Here’s another one that comes to mind… “the Joneses are bankrupt”.

Except not many people like CEOs who are generally known to be right wing political BS artists.

Professional sports unions are apolitical and respected for it.

Nice phrase. Might appeal to those who get all antsy if you use the words "false consciousness".

Guessing it has come via one of the PR companies paid by POAL, although perhaps not directly to the blogger concerned.

It doesn't stop there, though: the wider port wrangle is a…

Heck no – it would just encourage subdivision all along the route. Like Joyce's highway..

And it looks like someone within PoAL has handed the union's PR team a headline of their own.

I missed a line in my MSc thesis... "the river is stabilized by a groin on either side of its mouth".

1} Fire the workers and contract the place out.
2} Convince the organisation to increase it's levies so that private business can compete.

ACC Chairman appears to be surprised as well:

Mr Judge was also scathing about…

Of course you did... Otherwise it would be nuts anat, eh.
;-)

There's a whole thread, or at least a hashtag worth of speculation into what the hell that structure is for. So far, the only really plausible one is that it's been purpose built for a James Bond movie.

It's not quite high enough…

If an inunction is granted it may be…

Trouble is it won't run through there. If we are talking Puhoi to Welsford, then we are talking about removing those annoying trucks from the Holiday Highway from Auckland to Omaha (who the fuck called it Omaha? what is it? a WWII beach…

Do you mind if I refer to you as a visionary who’s ideas…

Indeed. I advise everybody still breathing an honest breath to join a Union. If you think Unions are a bad thing then…

So, a waste of ratepayers money then.

Not scary really, those with power have always abused it and when the workers apear to have any power whatsoever it is seen as a threat to…

What I meant to say earlier was – That 6% is the return, by admission of the Mayor and POAL, that they were getting and this return was above parity…

That is what the return they were getting and it was above aprity with most other ports.

‘There’s no point acting all surprised about it. All the planning charts and demolition orders have been on display in your local planning department in Alpha Centauri for fifty of your Earth years, so you’ve had plenty of…

The $91,000 is (partly) explained here. Not shown in those figures, but I believe this to be the case, is that the figure also…

Maybe not, but the opposite (state controlled) might well be a solution, creating benefits for the economic viability of POA, for the ports network as a whole, and as a fundamental piece of macro-economic infrastructure.

Maybe it's less about ownership,…

Godwin's law was invented to block objecting to fascism.

Political scientists might just call that "fascism"...

I don't think anyone really cares anymore (outside of…

Oh I do love the smell of a good tautology in the morning.

Aside from that. Can someone, anyone, explain this monstrosity that we paid for down in Slimepool Park?
The Bridge into the void: This picture shows the…

links upthread have some details

I'm really keen to see where/how this occurred – I believe it, I just want to see the mechanism that was used.

But I also think that's a bit of a red herring…

http://union.org.nz/sites/union.org.nz/files/CMP%20ANZCO%20Lock%20out%20fact%20sheet%20_2_.pdf

I think we will see similar things happening here. With jonkey’s latest offering of Steven Joyce, CEO of NZ, as the head of a “Super Ministry” I can see a lack of interest…

Britain in 1984, where Thatcher threw the…

– Patrick Corp was unconditionally backed by the Howard Lib-Nat Govt during the Aussie dispute.
– The Key Govt is largely sitting back and letting PoAL do most of the dirty work, although Key…

Len Brown if he had gonads – which we…

Read this document: http://www.waterfrontauckland.co.nz/aucklandwaterfront/media/PDFfiles/waterfrontPlan/05WP_Port.pdf

If you don't have time for the whole thing, here are some highlights:

"This strategy sets out Waterfront Auckland’s support for POAL’s local and international port and logistics activities. Auckland’s Port…

"I want to make it clear that when I say 'militant action', I'm talking about taking a stance on an issue in a strong but non-violent manner, in the way that Lucy Lawless took a stance recently with Greenpeace," Jackson said.

"As I said very clearly in today's broadcast,…

Well put.

Who Ya Gonna Call?
Allied Work Force, that’s…

Helen Kelly et al have been consistent and disciplined on picket-line behaviour. Now he's calling for some biffo.

The tragic thing is, he undoubtedly believes he's helping.

But I think it's most interesting for the fact that it channels the case these people…

That's a very significant point. Here in Kapiti, we face another of these Roads of National Party Significance, and the issue is similar. The problem used to be holidays and evening rush hour between Paraparaumu and Waikanae…

As long as one doesn't go on the Friday avo of a long weekend I have no problems. The Dome is the bitch if we encounter any road accident. When I used to commute from Warkworth back…

Sacha:and what more reason for reducing those charges does the govt need?
For the same reasons no one in Britain dared challenge Rupert…

Indeed. Although with iPredict I can't tell if these guys haven't all just turned into degenerate gamblers, losing all real interest in the outcome except in so far as having picked it is…

Maybe. But aren't people getting injured – or worse – at that workplace?

Also, I think Tauranga is a larger port with greater capacity. Lucky them. No Aucklander in its right mind wants our port extended, and Ak Council has…

The container terminal should be closed, the land developed and Marsden Point and Tauranga expanded, together with rail links to Auckland.

The good news is that the Prime Minister now appears to be moving towards this position. See http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/auckland/news/nbpol/296948005-NZ-may-have-too-many-ports—Key

- The 12% that someone assured the council could be achieved was based purely on cherry picking from specialised ports that bear no relationship to the Ports of Auckland operations.…

and what more reason for reducing those charges does the govt need?

I confess, my view on the issue was refined somewhat by driving the…

Gossip from the trucking industry has it that no-one is going to use the new super trucks, because the RUCs make them unprofitable. O.o

Amid the talks came a claim by the Council of Trade Unions (CTU) that major shipping line Maersk will not be stopping at Ports of Auckland while industrial action continues.

CTU president Helen Kelly said the ongoing employment dispute had become an international issue.

“Maersk…

Apparently Waterfront Auckland's major beef with Hooton's column was his scandalous assumption that they, y'know, worked together.

Which, lest I too receive a letter from a…

Interestingly, my column attracted an overwhelmingly positive response. While words like “mafia-like” apparently risk misinterpretation, the fact is Aucklanders have very good reasons not to trust the council’s un-elected waterfront tsars with custodianship of their harbour, management of billions…

I've heard somewhere over the last month a suggestion to keep Tauranga as…

I'd agree. The transportation cost might not be the biggest cost, not by a long shot. I don't actually know the answer, but the expensive real estate…

A recent article in Salon...'That dock would make a great park. The water view is perfect for a new loft. Will gentrification kill shipping?'

http://www.salon.com/2012/03/10/on_the_waterfront_the_battle_rages_on/singleton/

Only, it's true. That's Auckland forya.

Port of Tauranga already own and operate MetroPort in South Auckland – it's linked directly via rail to Tauranga and operates as an "in-Auckland" port for both inbound and outbound (POAL has the same thing at Wiri).…

Exactly. The market model has been tested and shown wanting, yet again. This time, it's for something as seemingly purely commercial as shipping ports.

Why can't Auckland let Whangarei or Tauranga or whoever wants to run its port do so,…

nah too much sarcasm for one day

The point is "is it more efficient to ship those goods to and from the Auckland port through the heart of the city or more efficient to use…

I would guess that they have some need for a port to ship stuff overseas.…