Len Brown needs to act

Today, Auckland Now reports:

The bitterest industrial dispute in years may have fallen out of the headlines, but the distrust between workers and Ports of Auckland management continues.

Union members claim they are being belittled, demeaned and targeted, a claim Ports of Auckland management rejects as overly sensitive.

More than three months after union members returned to work after eight months on the picketline when their collective employment agreement expired, and negotiations became mired in claim and counter-claim, facilitation of the collective is being worked on alongside the Employment Relations Authority.

Maritime Union New Zealand president Garry Parsloe said unease between management and workers continued, and workers had been told not to talk to the media.

''Management is trying to bully people to get what it wants,'' he said.

''We're still trying to get a collective, the men want security, and we haven't got there.''

Parsloe said there had been a large number of disciplinary hearings since workers returned, including for talking too loudly, and making pigeon sounds.

So whatever happened to Len Brown's claim that the Senior Ports staff that leaked private information about an employee would be fired? It would seem that as soon as media attention went off the issue, the mayor has also conveniently forgotten what he promised.

It's now been exactly four months since complaints were laid with the Privacy Commissioner concerning the outrageous breach of privacy. Surely this is far too long to wait and allow those who have undertaken such despicable tactics to remain employed at the port?

In my opinion, they should be stood down pending the Privacy Commissioners findings.