A matter of record

When does the revolution start? an anonymous commenter asked yesterday after reading Michael Laws’ latest bilious attack on staff and studying the emerging casualty list from CEO Dr Warburton's ongoing massacre.

Readers with long memories (and nine months is a very long time in any place subject to the daily indignities associated with Michael Laws’ presence) may recall that at the time Dr Warburton put down the boning knife at his meat plant in September 2005, an assiduous Googler at the LawsWatch cave discovered the good doctor was no stranger to mass redundancies or the Employment Court. We provide a refresher below particularly for the edification of those of his latest victims now talking to their lawyers.

A seemingly well-placed but somewhat shy anonymous commenter has said there’s more to come and that all will be revealed tomorrow. Meanwhile, the toll of those getting the Warburton Handshake almost certainly includes the following:

Rosemary Hovey (Community development manager & long-time friend of organisations struggling to make Wanganui a better place);

Keith Smith (Community liaison officer & in-house union man);
Philip Shackleton (Economic development manager surplus to requirements with the rise and rise of Wanganui Inc);

Irene Pearson (Shackleton’s executive assistant & former PA to Chas Poynter);

Jenna Lees (plucked from the Chronicle less than a year ago by the mayor as his inaugural events manager then flicked off to Wanganui Inc; not even being Little Lucy’s godmother could save her from the chop when she apparently didn’t measure up to the standards for WINC’s newly advertised Events Czar job).

Librarian Sally Patrick is being tipped to continue to rise like a souffle and add "community" to "culture" in her portfolio. Though in a city where both concepts are being laid waste by the Vision barbarians one assumes she’ll have plenty of time to read her magic million worth of new library books and join the mayor and his favourite developer in poring over plans for the grand new library/museum he wants to build her on the Queen’s Park forecourt, the likes of which haven’t seen since the Mugul emperor Shah Jahan knocked up that nice white marble edifice in 1631.

Meanwhile, Dr Shipman’s sorry Warburton’s list is not the only list being talked about by LawsWatch commenters and folk about town. It seems these times are not only stressful for the CEO but the mayor himself is exceeding his usual quotient of offensive interactions with staff and even a councillor. The reason for the hasty departure of Helen Lawrence two weeks ago from her media post at the mayor’s side is but the tip of the ice-berg it seems and on Saturday the Chronicle reported a terse exchange at the council table when Cr Sue Westwood took exception to an "objectionable" comment from his worship and his subsequent cleverly crafted apology for "any offence he may have caused".

And as the sand continues to pass through the hourglass at 101 Guyton Street … in the CEO’s office, Dr Warburton’s busy denying any political influence on his choice of victims and Mickey Mayor is singing the same tune in his usual out-of-key register.

So, when does the revolution start? Perhaps staff could consider a buy-out of the council’s remaining assets before Mickey flogs them all off to fund his swimming pool, and have a shot at running the show themselves. They’ll have to be quick though as the Northern Advocate revealed a little over a year ago. Now, gentle readers, for your edification here’s a little refresher from LawsWatch 9/11 2005 edition:

It seems Mr Warburton is no friend of the union, having recently laid off about 60 workers at the Kaitaia Timber Company. While Warburton's company, Tanner Group Ltd (TGL) announced it was closing its three mills at Kaitaia, Kerepehi and Tairua because it couldn't make a profit, EPMU timber industry organiser Megan Jones said the workers believed they were capable of running the plant profitably and wanted the opportunity to do so.

According to MP Sue Bradford, TGL told workers on a Friday that they had until Monday to come up with a way to keep their plant open. "So over and above the simple fact of the closure, local people have every right to feel bitter towards the way the Tanner Group has gone about this... we have a company that has obviously kept its workers in the dark for some time and has then attempted to make itself look good by offering a fig leaf of consultation."

The Union also tangled with Tanner Group last August, when the company lost an Employment Relations Act case in which it was alleged to have "threaten[ed the] applicant with disciplinary action over [a] term of employment that had not been directly and expressly negotiated and [the] contents of which remained uncertain between parties".

So hopefully Council staff have dotted the i's and crossed the t's in their employment contracts.

Update (7.40 pm): Idly surfing the web, we came across this example of how Mickey's mate and mentor rewrites history to suit himself. Said with an air of certainty and a "I dare you to doubt me" demeanour, it does alas fool enough of the people enough of the time - at least long enough to ensure Winnie and Mickey stay in power. It's a tactic employed frequently by Michael Laws - promulgate an absolute distortion of history with an air of unimpeachable certainty, then watch as it's picked up and repeated ad infinitum in comments on this blog and elsewehere as though it were true. But inevitably there's someone round with a long memory...

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