That's why I asked. The companion of St Nic here could not only give children a beating with branch switches and hand them salt instead of sweets. He could also take them with him in the bag he used to carry the presents in. And then you were taken away. (Probably to work for the Saint, but that was not clear)
In the late seventies all the scary stuff had to be taken away from Piet. No more punishing power, no more dread, no scare. He changed from one man with power into a flock of quite dumb piets.
Where the original Piet had a scary, powerful side, the new ones lost all that.
(In that light, resistance against zwarte Piet is more than justified. )
phobia.