We could catch the Aussies on the hop by giving them our stroppy wharfies

An influx of Kiwi wharfies should slow 'em down.

Alf hadn’t taken too much notice of the brouhaha at Ports of Auckland, where the Maritime Union is bridling against the bosses’ highly commendable aim of having more work done on a contract basis.

But the merits of what the bosses are trying to do were clearly illustrated in a media statement from the union which landed in Alf’s e-mail in-tray yesterday.

It was headed Port workers will leave New Zealand if jobs outsourced.

As a true-blue Nat whose attitudes to unions have been honed in a rural community, this strikes Alf as an eminently attractive proposition.