I got asked the other day by a senior practitioner in the communications industry (that’s PR) what I thought about the quality of management amongst New Zealand corporates.
I had to think about it, because, while I think there’s definitely a much higher awareness that good management = a happier workforce = a stronger bottom line and solid relationship with the community, many companies still don’t get it.
There’s a glaring example happening right now, where one of our biggest companies and most recognisable brands, Telecom, is engaged in a disgraceful attempt to cut its core labour force and turn what’s left into dependent contractors who have no choice about where they get their work, how much they can earn, and yet they have to buy their own vans, gear and take all the risk. While at the same time taking a pay cut. A pretty big one.
And today, 200 of them are being made redundant. For no apparent good reason. Basically to cut costs.
Apart from the workers, who will be affected? All of us. Because there’s less skilled workers to fix your phone faults and make sure you’re connected to a landline and to the internet. These are people who know their work, know the system. And they’re either being left on the scrap heap or being undermined and devalued.
Good management? I don’t think so.
And get this. Telecom appeared before a parliamentary select committee yesterday in Wellington arguing against a bill that aims to ensure land taken by the Crown for public works, and no longer needed for the purpose it was taken for, is offered back to Maori first. Telecom said they supported the principle behind the Bill, but that it could have “unforseen consequences”.
The NZ Herald article reported that:
The proposed amendments could result in Telecom being forced to offer back sites that form part of our network and that would be prohibitively expensive, or impossible to replace.
If this occurred we maybe unable to deliver telecommunications service to the areas served by those exchanges and sites.”
I’ve heard reports that there are hundreds, possibly thousands, of phone/internet faults in Northland and Auckland that aren’t being fixed because of the current strife being caused through Telecom’s current public relations nightmare.
Telecom could start thinking about its management culture. And its priorities. It’s not rocket science. The strength of any organisation, any business, lies in the people. Treat them well and your organisation will flourish. And we’ll all benefit.
Certainly gets results. Fonterra and the Prime Minister were both exposed as ignorant (or duplitious) about the issue on prime time television. Wouldn’t it be fun if the Telescum CEO had to front up and explain the delays in fixing a cable running into a couple of major banks if one or two essential lines were “accidently” dug up. To date he’s been hiding behind his human-resources henchmen – lets have a look at him under pressure and see how convincing his arguments are in the full glare of the public. Might send a message to the other corporates as well.
Aww..bikerkiwi, you really make me feel bad now…
I acknowledge it takes a man to admit he is wrong so I forgive you. you can stay.(on our side? ) lol…must admit…you are not so bad after all so I also apologize if I offended u.
I like that term you use ” the smell test” I will use it in future.
As to the name calling..we are techs, we call a spade a spade and if we are wrong we admit it too and get on with it.
Geek warning personal abuse Trevor
BLiP Warning personal abuse this and later post. One more and you will have an extended ban Trevor
While this is a response to Geek’s now deleted post, please do not engage in future in this approach Trevor
As above Trevor
Fair nuff.
Sorry about delay at getting back on here, pretty hectic at work. Most people have worked out my name is craig and anyone in the buiseness has my phone and e-mail anyway.
I was doing a medical job in whangarei yesterday when one of the guys giving me a hand stoppd to make a phone call and was threatened by lindsey. A police report has been made. also one of the other guys up with him had their tires slashed. The reports of threats are fact and have been sent on to police. Also when one of the installers were woring in manu road on monday the guys from the picket line went over and were hastling him when he went into the buiseness and then started throwing things at him and his van when he came out. Anyone who wants to discuss rates or how things are going can call me.
@cableguy
Yes, craig,It grieves me to say this to you but as your former work mates,words fail to describe the disappointment we all feel about you turning your back on us when it counted. You were our union delegate and it was expected from you to lead the guys courageously against this total onslaught of workers rights by visionstream/telecom.
Instead you secretly capitulated weeks before VS even started to work and started to look after your own interests.Seeking early favour with the boss we suspect.
We have concluded that perhaps your involvement in the union as a leader was not genuine to begin with but rather a possible means to fast forward your own career.(which wont happen as a union leader but u do get respect 4 courage displayed by co workers)
In the past we realised you put your hand up for anything and everything if you thought it will get you ahead at work even if it means you have to let your mates down in the process as you have well and truly demonstrated.Its all about Craig!
What we are fighting for was for your benefit as well but alas short sightedness?,greed? naivety? inexperience? I dont know what exactly has driven you away from those who cared about you and respected you as a person regardless of your youth.
Now all you are left with is the utter contempt and scorn of ex colleagues, the very men & women you once called friends in your home town.If all of that is worth the money you are making now then you really need to look inwardly at what is really important in life or you will end up a very lonely and hated person indeed. Nobody will ever trust you again and will advise others to do the same and avoid dealing with you.
The day will come craig when you will need some of those men & women you have let down and they will turn their backs on you too as you have done to them. You are so young and already you have made hundreds of enemies. Not a good start to a young kiwi looking ahead…. Not a good start at all
I pray that one day when you get older you will have developed into a person with higher moral values and worthy of the respect of your peers and a good example to your children. That is worth more than all the money in the world
I have always been upfront with what I thought of the whole visionstream saga even when you called me out in a union meeting I still said exactly what I thought.
My reasons for getting involved with the union were genuine, it was when we were going for the collective contract with downers. As soon as I believed I could no longer represent the union I resigned as deligate and then quit the union. I believe during this process the union are more interested in their survival than ours.
While there will be friends and workmates that won’t be happy with me and a lot of others signing over unfortunately thats the way it goes when this sort of thing happens. My only priority is to provide for my family. I only signed when I believed things were to a level that any tech would be able to do much better than they were under downers. Given the choice of visionstream or the dole que it’s not a hard decision. I was not the first to sign over and there have been many more.
@ cable guy/craig
Craig I dont think anyone of us are NOT trying to provide for our families. We all want to provide for our families in a manner that can be securely sustained in the long run and not turn out to become a dog eat dog scenario.
The point of the whole exercise is (1)to stand together in protest of an employment contract that denied us our basic employee rights and further erode our working conditions and (2)to prevent this type of employment contract from spreading to other industries as well which our kids will suffer under in the future.
“Unity is strength” is the tool we want to use to get to our united goal. The money VS was throwing at all of us…and the local manager’s verbal promises in your ear… was and still is is just the bait to get us on board initially before they really implement the dodgy contractual conditions later on down the line when they have the tech numbers.Remember Craig…you cannot guarantee that the local manager will still be in that job in future to fulfill all those verbal promises can you?? He did tell me he wont be able to handle all the expected stress for very long…so there you go. draw your own conclusions from that comment.
Nobody said this was going to be an easy battle to achieve our goals and the union only co ordinates the united front we represent. We the members are the union and all decisions made was by the members. You should know this since your vote was part of those decisions made in the past which you also benefited from as I recall…?.
Nothing worth fighting for Craig will ever come easy…Its THOSE kinds victories that are enjoyed & benefited by others (our children ) afterwards long after we have left this earth.
We are all looking THAT far ahead in this epic struggle, not short term only like you currently are.
Under the present VS contract conditions as an owner operator you have signed away your individual right to speak out in objection to anything VS decides to do now and in the future.(read the contract again to see this & do use the barristers report to guide your understanding on this)
So if ever you needed a union it will be now as an owner operator because the whole point of the VS contract model is to divide the workers and KEEP THEM DIVIDED to prevent him/her from challenging the company on how they deal with you now and in the future.
Does the phrase “divide & conquer” mean anything to you? or teach you anything at all?
ask the australian owner operators about VS. The VS developement manager Chris told me they have the very same contract as your one.
The epmu is the largest union in the country and we telco techs only made up a small part of its membership. If all of us left right now I don’t believe it would have such a large impact as you have been led to believe by the VS union breakers.
What you have forgotten though Craig is that we and you are the union and we are looking at OUR survival here as workers hence the united front. The union itself only provided structure to the organized front of its worker members.
Again you forget how you used this very structure to help you in the past.
Your comments to the contrary tells me that you have totally capitulated to the propaganda from VS and your manager who also tried to persuade me and others of that company focused point of view which only served to benefit the company to your disadvantage.You need to be mature and wise to comprehend that mind trick and avoid falling for it.
Ignore it to your peril.
Now that telecom have lost out on the 1.5bill broadband rollout, there are still other options out there like Crown Fibre Holdings for us who have resisted and “fought the good fight”
I appreciate a man has to do what he has got to do for the family.As you know, I am new in this country with no backup to rely upon so my struggle/problem to do just that is far bigger than yours, however it would have been better if you and others like you were a part of this fight for workers rights for the good of all concerned.
So in conclusion on this matter I say again to you Craig:
“I pray that one day when you get older you will have developed into a person with higher moral values and worthy of the respect of your peers and a good example to your children. That is worth more than all the money in the world”
@ micheal kerikeri
I concur with you mike in your reply to craig.Craig, good luck,your going to need it.For me I need not only a good pay for the job i do,but trust between my employer and myself.V/s
has sent me the latest code payments [version 8 i think] and
contract amendments.if this professional company [v/s] that has been in business for many years can’t get the codes right from day one or the contract right it doesn’t instill a lot of confidence for me and others.Maybe telecom is behind the constant contract/code changes, another company who has been in this industry for many years and keeps getting it wrong.lets hope 5 years down the 10 year contract they v/s & telecom don’t come back to you saying they have got it wrong again to your detriment.Good luck craig,shane
twentyfour days without phone service.Yet the fourteen or so households affected still want the protest/strike to continue.They are behind the guys.One lady dropped a lot of jackets off to the patch ten guys.it took visionscam from last thursday to today tuesday to repair the fault.And the scab came up from auckland.As for craig ,i heard its your wife who has the balls not you.
Send your comments to info@visionstream.co.nz
they might watch some of these forums but it would be better if we copied every comment directly to them just so they don’t miss out.
Hi Cableguy, I hope you are enjoying your wonderful new opportunity. You are a decent guy and I really hope you succeed but I am not interested in hearing your lies about union members when all they are doing is carrying out their legal right to peaceful protest. If you can’t stand a little heckling then stay at home. If you or anybody else has evidence of violence or damage then bring it to the police. We have not had any charges laid against us yet. On the other hand we have 3 accounts of union members being assaulted by chorus vehicles recorded on film.
The police who pass the picket line every day toot, smile, wave and flash their sirens in support of our protest. Some of them stop for a chat and catch up with their mates. The guys who came to enforce Greg McGrath’s pathetic trespass notice were struggling to suppress their giggles at the absurdity of it all. If we were the terrible violent intimidating hordes that telecom and visionstream is trying to represent to the media then we should all be in jail by now.
an inpromptu protest at tiki roundabout with a little confrontation had a crowd gather and when it was over the crowd cheered.but not for telecom.
Years ago, when we were young parents, my partner and I were involved in an eight week long dispute at Marsden Point. Eight scaffolders decided they knew better and signed up with an alternative contractor and went back to work. Each morning they were escorted by the riot squad onto the site past family men and women who were sticking up for health and safety rights. The then government passed a law naming these eight men and making it illegal for anyone to try to stop them working. This is the only law in New Zealand’s history like it. I know how bitterly we felt about the scabs. I know what it did to friendships in our hometown of Whangarei. We never forgot what happened and it was a formative experience for me and the other people who were involved. I’m sure those men were just trying to feed their families too, but we thought saving lives on the construction site was important – and just like the telco guys – we thought it wasn’t just important for ourselves, but for future workers.
HEY CABLE GUY (CRAIG NELSON)REMEMBER BEFORE YOU SIGNED TO VS YOU SAID EVERY INTERNAL WIRING FAULT YOU DONE YOU WOULD ALSO PRETEND THERE WAS A FAULT IN THE UNDERGROUND SERVICE LEAD,DIG IT UP CUT IT AND DO A JOINT SO YOU COULD CLAIM THIS CODE.HOW LONG DO YOU THINK YOU WILL GET AWAY WITH THIS?DAMN I PROBABLY SHOULDNT PUT THIS HERE VS MIGHT SEE IT.SORRY.NOW WHAT WAS THEIR PHONE NUMBER?
Good time to retrain in fibre.Theres new oppotunitys coming in the near future in new technology.Let telecom rot into the dust.Look on the power lines outside the exchange craig see the fibreoptic cable thats just been put there.Thats your new technology craig and it doesn’t seem to be owned by telecom.It is owned by the consumers of northpower.And the sooner the better.You might find it beneficial to retrain in turning off copper networks craig because that will be a big part of your career turning off the network.Theres a code for it.The zero code by da people.
craig why would anyone want to work with visionstream. Everyone else is retraining in fibre and taking advantage of the new technology coming.That’s where the money is.The next ten years will show that you went the wrong road.With the massive australian and nz fibre rollout happening what do you think will happen to copper.
Very soon there will be a shortage of fibre technicians,the guy’s you shafted are retraining and taking advantage.
What you thought was a golden goose turned out be a dead duck.
This is a blessing in disguise.
Does Telecom care more about its land than its workers?
Damned right they do! Telecom owns large amounts of land in strategic areas of our country. They don’t give a rats arse about our telecommunications infrastructure, it was all about acquiring real estate. Now that they have got the land and it has appreciated a hundredfold, they can either bulldoze the exchanges and sell the land at a huge profit or blackmail the NZ government into buying back the exchanges and the rest of the failing network. It is obvious that telecom is pulling out of NZ. Why would else would telecom make such a deliberate hash of it’s service company contracts and alienate all of the skilled workers in this country?
[...] is bad enough that the government