Meet the MUNZers

Conor O’Brien at NBR reports:

Half of the Maritime Union’s bargaining team were disciplined and two were sacked during collective agreement negotiations with Ports of Auckland (PoAL),NBR Online can reveal.

PoAL’s organisational strategist Rod Lingard says a series of disciplinary actions made the union look like a “biker gang” rather than a responsible union in the modern era.

“Of the eight people in the union’s bargaining team we have had to discipline four of them,” Mr Lingard says.

Now what were they disciplined for? Was it just because they were union delegates?

Mr McKean was sacked on September 20 for publishing a racist and sexist piece in the union’s national magazine.

We have profiled Mr McKean’s work before.

Mr Harrison was sacked on January 24 after an investigation concluded he made violent threats against a non-union employee and his family, calling the employee a “f**king piece of s**t”.

Charming.

Mr Findlay was given his final warning after he took a letter from under his manager’s locked door using a ruler.

Oh, a thief.

Another PoAL employee Andrew Angus, a former member of the union’s executive, was dismissed after writing the following job application and posting it anonymously under an administrator’s door. 

Kia ora bro,

I wish to make application for the the position of ship Leading Hand. I feel too intellegant to drive straddles all my life. If it helps I can do a month or two on the sunbed- My great grandfather was one of the priests for the Island of Tualvau and he taught them bannans grown on trees. 

Yours the Best Billy.T. James

Mr Angus was reinstated while his case was heard by the Employment Relations Authority but was sacked a second time after he was caught on camera throwing a twist-lock under a straddle crane. Twist-locks are used to secure containers together on board ships and can cause straddle cranes to tip if they get caught under their wheels. 

Good unions work to have safer workplaces, not sabotage equipment.

Mr Lingard says a fifth union member, official delegate Dave Phillips, who was not employed by PoAL, was served a trespass notice in December after he entered the port’s mess-room and threatened non-union employees with violence.

Remember MUNZ is a proud affiliate member of the Labour Party, and Labour MPs are down on their picket line.

UPDATE: And another MUNZer speaks up to Whale:

Message: u leave cecil walker alone u bastard do u get off on thiskind of stuff tell u what anymore comments about my bros personal life an u r going to get utu i aint fuken jokn etha its not hard to findout were u r so back off

That’s very sad. Not the threat so much – they have a well documented history of threatening and intimidation. But the child like text speak in an e-mail. Please tell me that man is not in charge of a crane somewhere.