tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17759756.post113455759461010234..comments2023-10-30T02:03:56.081+13:00Comments on Capitalism Bad; Tree Pretty: Jet Planes LeavingMaiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17212711843307060731noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17759756.post-1134678033430812022005-12-16T09:20:00.000+13:002005-12-16T09:20:00.000+13:00i kind of read it as more you can't trust those ye...i kind of read it as more you can't trust those yellow people, but good point. it would be better to talk about the high quality of the work that the Air NZ engineers do - making your point and big upping your members at the same time.Spanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16896745511007816190noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17759756.post-1134588258966755622005-12-15T08:24:00.000+13:002005-12-15T08:24:00.000+13:00It gets worse. Telling stuff below from Alliance c...It gets worse. <BR/>Telling stuff below from <BR/>Alliance co-leader Len Richards.<BR/>He says the unions have buckled under to<BR/>the blackmail of the company, which is cynically using the threat of a<BR/>complete closure of the repair workshops to extract "voluntary"<BR/>concessions from the workers. <BR/><BR/>The unions have hired Michael Stiassny of the accountancy firm Ferrier<BR/>Hodgson who has come up with a plan that will mean far-reaching changes<BR/>in work conditions in the hope that enough money can be saved to<BR/>convince the company to save 300 engineers' jobs.<BR/><BR/>The Alliance says Mr Stiassny is not known as a workers' champion. He<BR/>specialises in company restructuring and insolvency. He chairs the Board<BR/>of the lines company Vector and Auckland's corporatised water company,<BR/>Metrowater. He also holds directorships in a number of other companies<BR/>including Metlifecare, a major player in the aged care industry<BR/>currently under attack in a corporate takeover bid by the Australian<BR/>McQuarrie Bank. <BR/><BR/>He told the NZ Herald it was "phenomenal" and an "amazing surprise", to<BR/>see "how far the [union] delegates and members have moved on labour<BR/>reform". It is "unusual", he crowed, "to see a union make those ...<BR/>deliverables" and Air NZ should take advantage of these concessions.<BR/><BR/>Andrew Little, the national secretary of the EPMU, described the<BR/>accountants' plan as a viable alternative, but in selling workers'<BR/>conditions in return for an unenforceable undertaking that some jobs<BR/>will be saved, Mr Little and the unions are playing right into the<BR/>company's hands, Mr Richards says.<BR/><BR/>The company that Mr Stiassny works for is known as a "corporate<BR/>undertaker", having dealt with several high profile company<BR/>receiverships. In one, a so-called "Phoenix" scheme in 1998, a<BR/>stevedoring company went into receivership and then arose from its own<BR/>ashes under a new name. <BR/><BR/>"This was done to cheat laid-off wharfies out of their holiday and<BR/>redundancy pay," Mr Richards says. "The wharfies, through the<BR/>liquidator, successfully sued Ferrier Gibson for nearly $2 million. To<BR/>think such a company would act in the interests of Air NZ engineers, as<BR/>Andrew Little obviously does is, at the very least, the height of<BR/>naivety."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com