Seems yesterday’s mediation attempt in the Shawn Tan case didn’t resolve matters. Given that ACT seemed to be wringing all it could out of the affair, this is hardly surprising. I mean, just look at the cast.
Shawn Tan, whose comments to date reveal a lack of maturity and love of the limelight.
Rodney Hide, putting on a great show of outraged indignation for the uncritical press. He was probably just in the neighbourhood to pose for the cameras, I guess. Look what Granny prints with a straight face:
“They made a prejudiced decision because they thought that because he was Asian, because he was Chinese, he would do the meek and mild thing and not stand up for himself.”
No evidence. No plausiblility even. Does he really think that the EPMU hires people because they’re “meek and mild”? They’re a union FFS! My experience of recent immigrants from China is that they are a varied group, of course, but just as assertive on the whole as any other group in NZ society. Does Hide’s outburst reveal more about his own prejudices than anything else? Still, Rodney, never mind the weirdness, it’s the publicity that counts, eh?
Max Whitehead, of the Whitehead Group (looks like there’s only him in the group, though) who seems to sport an oversized ego and unrealistic assessment of his own “professionalism.” Max, professional employment advocates don’t say things like this when there are in the middle of the mediation process:
“Max Whitehead, Mr Tan’s advocate, argued that he should be free to do what he liked in his spare time and it was shocking his role with the EPMU had become a political issue.”
Whitehead is virulently opposed to workers’ rights and seems to have a view of employment relations that borders on the paranoid. For example, employers who train their staff later discover “that far from creating a major asset for their business they have created a major competitor.” Also, “it is common knowledge among workers that many small to medium business fail to comply with the employment laws. This has opened the legal floodgates to employees disgruntled with their working conditions or pay.” And so on.
For Max, it’s employers good and workers bad… unless, of course, the employer is a union.
So, by Tan’s account:
“… the EPMU bosses “skirted around” the issue of whether his new role put him at odds with its core beliefs, choosing to focus on other employment issues.”
No kidding. In an employment issues mediation meeting the union representatives wanted to talk about employment issues.
Come on Granny, you can do better than this! Hide didn’t go “into bat for sacked union worker” and you know it. Tan’s not even sacked yet, idiots. An honest headline would be, “Hide milks affair for all it’s worth with weird racial outburst.”
Jafapete's Weblog 
August 26, 2008 at 9:55 am |
So what’s the EPMU’s case? Why was Tan suspended? (I can’t get that from the referenced article). I’d like to see a clear and detailed explanation as to what are the EMPU’s actual complaints. So far, I haven’t seen that anywhere.
Redbaiter, The NBR article that you referred me to (many thanks again for that 😉 ) makes it quite clear that the disciplinary action was on the basis that Tan became a candidate without seeking his employer’s consent, as required by the collective employment agreement under which he is employed. At the same time Tan is claiming that he’s being discriminated against on the basis of his political beliefs, although it’s a little unclear as to whether he thinks that he has a case that he can pursue. I’ve just posted on the employment issues as I see them.
August 26, 2008 at 10:25 am |
So we’re going with the NBR’s reporting? I’d prefer to see it staright from the union somewhere, but OK, it seems that what the EPMU has to do is 1) prove the charges are valid ( a lawful dismissal) and 2) prove that Tan acted the way they claim he did. I’d say that like any other employer, they’d be on a hiding to nothing.
September 8, 2008 at 1:53 pm |
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September 10, 2008 at 10:00 am |
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