Hysteria
March 11th, 2012 at 11:02 am by David FarrarMatt McCarten attacks Len Brown in his HoS column:
Brown’s actions, or lack of them, over the port fiasco are perplexing.
His officials set an impossible 12 per cent return for his port’s directors.
When they ran into trouble I’m told the board offered the mayor their resignations. If true it was a master stroke. Because once he assured them of his support he was their puppet.
No experienced politician who knows what they stand for would have been manoeuvred like this.
With the biggest citizens’ revolt for 60 years about to erupt in his city, he is pathetically reduced to whimpering that he doesn’t have any real power. He looks weak.
The biggest citizens’ revolt for 60 years? Really? 3,000 people turned up to the support rally for the Maritime Union. That’s 0.3% of Auckland’s population.
Related posts:
- Well done Len
- The Mayor for all of Auckland
- Is this why Len won’t back his board?
- The Maritime Union at work
March 11th, 2012 at 11:08 am
Wrong David…Auckland’s population is 1.4 million. 3000 people out of 1.4 million citizens is just 0.21%…..less than the 1%
Vote:March 11th, 2012 at 11:11 am
The pinko lefties never let the truth get in the way of a good whinge.
Vote:March 11th, 2012 at 11:16 am
Barking at the wrong moon here. One day strike in Sydney yesterday it is reported, mps marching, clergy marching, High Court actions pending, discontent spreading- not a convenient picture for rate payers. But at least old Gibbo and Lenny are all right at this stage as profits become losses.
Vote:March 11th, 2012 at 11:29 am
Perhaps he is referring to what will happen when we get our rates bill.
Vote:March 11th, 2012 at 11:31 am
And a proportion of those marchers were supporters from outside Auckland (and even NZ)…
There was quite a good interview on Q+A this morning about the dispute (a refreshing change).
Vote:March 11th, 2012 at 11:33 am
As a union member the actions of the MUNZ really offend me. They’ve been running a closed shop with a far too restrictive collective agreement and getting paid outrageous wages for little work. They give all unions a bad name. Meanwhile the aged care workers struggle is getting little attention. They are the people who actually need a union and some public attention, getting paid barely above minimum wage for some of the most difficult work there is. I’d like to know where McCarten got his numbers showing the vast majority support the MUNZ. I would think it has to be the opposite. And I really wish they’d stop saying they’ve been sacked, because the haven’t. They’ve been made redundant, which means big payouts at ratepayers’ expense, before many of them get immediately re-hired as contractors.
Vote:March 11th, 2012 at 11:34 am
12% return on capital is not impossible. It isnt even unreasonable as a goal.
McCarten really is clueless about all things financial. It isnt even clear what he was talking about, was it return on capital? Return on equity? Dividend yield?
His metaphor is appropriate. How many puppets support the puppeteer?
Vote:March 11th, 2012 at 11:43 am
Go away Macacacarten, just go.
Vote:March 11th, 2012 at 11:54 am
Manolo,
Vote:He is dying. Your comment is in bad taste.
March 11th, 2012 at 11:55 am
It wasnt until you made it so.
Vote:March 11th, 2012 at 11:58 am
Rightandleft, I agree, MUNZ deserve disdain as do the protesters, if people really cared they would be out marching for the aged care workers – and the aged that they look after for far less than wharfies earn.
joanna – I don’t see anything wrong with Manolo’s comment, I think Kimble is right.
Vote:March 11th, 2012 at 12:00 pm
>The biggest citizens’ revolt for 60 years? Really?…That’s 0.3% of Auckland’s population.
The percentage of population is irrelevant.
Three people and a cat could be the biggest if there hadn’t been any others with higher numbers in that time.
However, according to the Herald in 2010, there have been at least seven bigger demonstrations in the last 11 years.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10642231
Sadly, do a search on ‘Auckland’ and ‘demonstration’ (to see some numbers) and you quickly come up with one Penny B was involved in where I don’t think even that cat showed up.
Vote:March 11th, 2012 at 12:00 pm
I don’t think so. Not at all.
Vote:March 11th, 2012 at 12:06 pm
Hahahahahahahahahahaha
Delusional much? 3000?
That’s the fired 300 plus a bunch f their family and some regular ring ins. Pathetic.
Vote:March 11th, 2012 at 12:09 pm
Rightandleft: Well said Sir/Madam. Your post could have been titled” What unions are doing wrong in 2012″.
Vote:March 11th, 2012 at 12:39 pm
Is it correct that Minto was there yesterday? If true, then it says it all really – rent-a-mob.
And I’m sorry that Matt McCarten is seriously ill, but that doesn’t give him the right to talk dribble and expect others to fall at his feet no matter what. If you’re a hypocrite, then that’s what you are and expect to be called out on it if you keep giving us the opportunity.
Vote:March 11th, 2012 at 12:46 pm
Even Willie Jackson descrobed it as a feeble effort and wondered what unionists in NZ were doing.
Ah Willie ,working of course.
Vote:March 11th, 2012 at 12:51 pm
Marcw:
This vid shows Two Hats and Minto the best part was the Dog attacking the placard.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/video.cfm?c_id=1&gal_objectid=10791128&gallery_id=124407
Vote:March 11th, 2012 at 12:53 pm
marcw: I am with you…its an extension of the traditional “you mustnt speak ill of the dead”…my own mother was an abusive tyrant in life, and it didnt make it any less so when she died…McCarten will still be a communist dickhead when the grim reaper claims him…
If he really thinks this is a repeat of 1951 then I feel a little sorry for him….1951: Most of the population compulsory members of unions; nationwide awards governing who got paid what wherever they were; “relativity”, which meant all the other “workers”‘ pay was “relative” to what was awarded to the Northern Drivers Union; rigid “demarcation” on construction sites and everywhere else – if a labourer touched a strop or a rigger touched a shovel, everyone downed tools; the “gummint” was a party to every significant industrial dispute; streetwalkers were about the only independent contractors. 2012: Most of the population not unionised; most of the rest on individual contracts between employer and employee; no awards; relativity set by the market not by the Northern Drivers Union; many “workers” are, and many more aspire to be, independent contractors. etc. etc. etc.
Vote:March 11th, 2012 at 12:59 pm
“…McCarten will still be a communist dickhead when the grim reaper claims him…”
But he at least won’t go to his grave a convicted criminal who stole a dead childs identity.
Vote:March 11th, 2012 at 1:02 pm
It was a feeble effort.
There’s not much support around NZ either – attempts to organize protests elsewhere were sadly pathetic.
It’s hard to motivate Christchurch people to march for Auckland workers rights at any time, much less after the stress they’ve been under.
Vote:March 11th, 2012 at 1:06 pm
Fish_(brave anyonymous) boy: Get it right son…it was a dead BABY not a child…sounds much worse…
Vote:March 11th, 2012 at 1:07 pm
i didnt know the communist was dying?
so the chances of paying back that PAYE cash is?
Vote:March 11th, 2012 at 1:07 pm
3000 of your union mates you bussed in from all over the North Island isn’t a citizens revolt, but it is revolting.
What is fascinating to see is that finally Labour have swung in behind the strikers. So much for Shearer reforming the party. Looks like it is business as usual for Labour. At this rate, Key will be PM longer than Holyoake, Massey and Seddon.
Vote:March 11th, 2012 at 1:13 pm
BlairM: God, lets hope so…Can you imagine a Lab-NZ First- Green-Mana government? Elections every three months..
Vote:March 11th, 2012 at 1:28 pm
One must not speak ill of the dead so I’ll say it while the prick is alive.
Time to shuffle off.
Vote:March 11th, 2012 at 1:44 pm
fish_boy>But he at least won’t go to his grave a convicted criminal who stole a dead childs identity.
McCarten will go to his grave a vile anti-semite, a tax cheat, and the partner of the nasty thuggish woman in this video:
http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2012/03/cathy-casey-loses-the-plot/
I’d prefer David Garrett any day.
Vote:March 11th, 2012 at 2:32 pm
Still no appreciation that the number of marchers is insignificant if the unrest, as it is showing, continues to grow. Not that 2 or 3 thousand, in a fairly apathetic city, is not notable, particularly when joined by unionists from overseas.
Vote:March 11th, 2012 at 3:55 pm
Can you imagine a Lab-NZ First- Green-Mana government?
The left are trying desperately to portray Dunne as a floater as they complain and shame to try and get him to budge – but imagine what it would be like if Harawira was in the sort of coalition position Dunne is in now.
Vote:March 11th, 2012 at 4:02 pm
I find McCarten a repulsive individual- His illness is irrelevant, We are all going to meet our maker sooner or later, and any one of us could be hit by a bus tomorrow and I doubt our enemies would mourn us…
Vote:March 11th, 2012 at 6:45 pm
Mary Rose makes a good point about larger marches. Quote from the article that she linked to:
* September 2001: 10,000 march against Genetic Engineering, resulting in a moratorium.
Vote:* March 2003: 5000 protest against the Iraq War.
* October 2003: 9000 march against end of GE Moratorium, ending it.
* March 2005: 10,000 fight civil unions which remain legal.
* November 2007: 2000 protest the Electoral Finance Act which is repealed after the election.
* May 2009: 7000 failed in a call for Maori seats on Supercity council.
* November 2009: 4000 call for repeal of anti-smacking legislation but to no avail.
* May 2010: Up to 40,000 march opposing mining on conservation land.
March 11th, 2012 at 8:13 pm
Davidp, I’m a Jew, and believe McCarten has a right to be an antisemite. I didn’t even know he WAS one. What has he said?
Who doesn’t cheat on his taxes if he gets the chance?
As for condemning him because of who he lives with, purleeze, that is absurd. I still like Jane Clifton and look who she sleeps with……..
Regarding this dispute, which gets zilch coverage in Australia, it will be resolved exactly the way the Patrick Stevedoring one was in Australia. After the union had finished posturing, and the employers had stopped breaking the law with the help of the Howard government, the two parties sat down across a table and, after the usual “pleasantries” hammered out an agreement.
Governments should keep out of industrial disputes. So should union-hating rightwingers and bosshating lefties. Put the protagonists in a room, lock the door and don’t let them eat, sleep, piss, take a dump or leave till they’ve found a settlement.
Vote:March 11th, 2012 at 8:23 pm
Peter Freedman
8.13
I might soon need to call you sir.
Vote:That’s about how I see it.
March 12th, 2012 at 6:58 am
David Garrett.
Vote:Still making excuses..still minimising your crime. You don’t seem to have any remorse or shame..You even comment here on crime and act as if there is no irony or hypocrisy involved..If you just commented on other things , I wouldn’t get on your case..
March 12th, 2012 at 8:01 am
Pretty high, I think. There was an article recently in which it was revealed he was working on getting an advance payout on his life insurance in order to cover that debt.
http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/insurance-company-mccarten-call-us-mn-p-110615
Vote:March 12th, 2012 at 9:24 am
Wait, the board of a very arms-length (many arms in fact) offered THE MAYOR their resignation? I call massive bullshit as they have no governance responsibilities to the mayor at all. At best they offered their resignation to the board of ACIL, who even then have no channel to the Council and/or one of it’s votes for that sort of decision…
Vote:March 12th, 2012 at 9:21 pm
garrett youre a walking punchline pal
Vote: