Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Anatomy of a Shambles

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  • Russell Brown,

    Thanks for doing the legwork, DexterX. Are there links to referenced documents?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Sacha,

    Oi. My snap was to David's *original* comment about how to embed Youtube clips.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • David Hood,

    Sacha, sorry to leave your comment ambiguous, because it had been fixed I thought I'd use the space for something that made sense in the discussion (and hadn't seen your comment at the point I hit Edit)

    Dunedin • Since May 2007 • 1445 posts Report

  • Sacha,

    All good. Asyncronous editing is still easier to follow here than threads elsewhere where later comments appear all over the place.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • rodgerd,

    Only a tiny point in this whole huge debacle, but the first sentence above is not strictly accurate. In IT for example I've seen contracts with a clause that allows the employer to get rid of the contractor for any reason with a short notice period - but no matching get-out clause for the contractor. Just sayin'.

    That would be why I used to carry liability insurance when I was a contractor. Because I was mindful of the fact I was in a whole other area of contract law to employment law, and like any other supplier, I could be sued if I screwed up badly enough (not that I've ever even heard of that happening to individual contractors).

    One could, for example, set up a $200 company as a contracting shell to avoid that problem, and become an employee of said company. It does make the accounting a touch more complicated, but you can still claim back tax on your DVD collection, lunches, the corner of your house you designate an office, and all the other perks of self-employment. Tax breaks, you could even call them ;)

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 512 posts Report

  • Nick Shand,

    Correct me if my assessment of the situation is wrong.

    I believe your assessment of the situation is correct. The former NZ AE has been operating as if their own legal requirements and policy fine print are somehow irrelevant. I pity any actor willing to let this group even read the contracts being offered let alone negotiate nudity.

    One more thing I have been pondering is; what is a stuck off societies legal position with regards to collecting members subs. The committee may very well be spending money they are no longer entitled to receive because they are not legally capable of fulfilling the objects of the incorporated society.

    auck • Since Aug 2008 • 79 posts Report

  • DexterX,

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1224 posts Report

  • Ian Dalziel,

    bring on the new Thespeons...?

    They're a performers union in general,
    aren't they?

    for like clowns and muppets...?
    ..wrong thread?

    and so those child magicians
    - could they be members
    and therefore be youthful idiots?
    :- )


    God of Carnage strikes back...
    I note Mark Hadlow, who has an announced role, Dori, in The Hobbit, says he's not a member of AE...


    Telly ho...
    Might just go watch The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe now, having never seen it, it will be nice to see some of the Canterbury area in a movie - from back when they were still making them here...

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report

  • nzlemming,

    Nice work, DexterX. I hadn't thought about the need to transfer, but I think you are correct in your analysis. Also, that their rules are incomplete.

    Waikanae • Since Nov 2006 • 2937 posts Report

  • Jonathan King,

    Nice work, DexterX.

    I saw this movie once where journalists did this kind of digging and wrote about it in their newspapers.

    But, you know, that was a movie.

    Since Sep 2010 • 185 posts Report

  • rodgerd,

    I saw this movie once where journalists did this kind of digging and wrote about it in their newspapers.

    But, you know, that was a movie.

    Funny, I heard investigation wasn't what journalists did, because that would be biased.

    (Where's the sarcasm button?)

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 512 posts Report

  • Peter Cox,

    Actor's Equity starting to make the right kind of noises now:

    http://static.radionz.net.nz/assets/audio_item/0004/2424865/art-20101024-1240-The_Hobbit_Saga-m048.asx

    Still a bit of an oops moment from Robyn in regards to the boyott semantics issue but otherwise I think she does very well.

    May I say once again that I think Holly Shanahan has been very, very excellent right from her open letter, and now here. For one thing, she comes right out and deals with the residuals/money issue which is exactly the kind of honest argument that should have been made in the first place.

    And to continue the kind of points Dexter is making:

    One of the most significant parts of the interview is where Holly quite rightly describes some of the positives an Actor's Union can achieve - specifically the Terranova dispute. But it highlights a significant criticism I have of the MEAA: contrast and compare the way that they handled the Terranova/Fox dispute in Australia compared to the way they handled the Hobbit in New Zealand, not least of all in how they have respected their own membership.

    The MEAA have, quite simply, not been as responsible in NZ as they would in Australia.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 312 posts Report

  • DexterX,

    The struck off entity would have in my view no legal standing as a trade union and be unable to be an incorporated society.

    The status would be that of an unregistered society and as such they could not act as a trade union and bargain collectively under the ERA.

    The new entity could be funding itself from the funds/income stream collected by the old entity – which is dodgy to say the least.

    NZAE have likely not informed the membership - if there is any other than the 15 bods on the new incorporation application - of the situation and NZEA have likely not sought a resolution on any of this via an all up meeting – the matter of the new incorporation and the fees.

    The meetings may well have been abandoned in Auckland and Wellington to stop the constitutional flaws and other issues coming out when the shit was hitting the fan re the blacklisting – bad timing is a bitch I guess esepcially when coupled with incompetence

    No one is likely to stop them - the Registrar has let NZEA pass a new set of rules and reincorporate without looking very deeply into the situation and the obvious flaws in the rules.

    The Dept of Labour are likely to also let it all ride unless someone takes NZEA to task through the Authority or the Employment Court.

    The Registrar is an enabler of the consequence free environment, to which I refer in earlier posts, and allows it to exist by not fulfilling the statutory function for whcih the office was created - but isn't that the real probeklm with govt.

    The CTU would have been fully aware of the flaws in all of this, which is why Peter Cranney and Simon Mitchell are involved; they would likely be considered the preferred CTU advocates and Helen Kelly most likely would have referred NZAE to them to try and sort it out. Simon Mitchell would have been used as he is in Auckland and Peter Cranney in Wellington.

    I can’t help think that the NZAE, who had 2 & 1/2 year to sort there shit out, have badly handled the situation and must have been out of their (insert expletive of choice here) minds.

    This is perhaps why the “left” isn’t fit to resume government – they just aren’t competent or perhaps more honestly the left are even more incompetent than the present government.

    If this shit had hit the fan a month before the Super City Election it would likely have tipped the result the other way.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1224 posts Report

  • Nick Shand,

    I heard investigation wasn't what journalists did

    Why would they need too when info junkie discussion boards do all the leg work and source checking for free.

    auck • Since Aug 2008 • 79 posts Report

  • Peter Cox,

    This is perhaps why the “left” isn’t fit to resume government – they just aren’t competent or perhaps more honestly the left are even more incompetent than the present government.

    To be fair, Actor's Equity isn't the Labour Government.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 312 posts Report

  • Jackie Clark,

    Dexter, what an extraordinary extrapolation. Speechless.

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report

  • DexterX,

    Yeah, yeah but that is how these things roll - political life in NZ is mostly immature and selfserving.

    The NZAE Hobbit shambles was likely a part of the campaign of industrial action and unrest pursued by the CTU and the
    Left ( Labour and the Unions).

    The strategy to build up to the next election – The govt needs to listen to the working people of NZ - Fairness at Work - has come unstuck.

    NZAE haven't been fair - they have been witless.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1224 posts Report

  • Simon Bennett,

    I don't believe the CTU were involved in the initial MEAA/Equity action in any way shape or form. They were brought in to try to bring reason to the mess once everything had gone pear-shaped.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 174 posts Report

  • Peter Cox,

    They were brought in to try to bring reason to the mess once everything had gone pear-shaped.

    As someone who has been talking directly to the people involved, I can tell you that's exactly the case.

    I don't think anyone there was naive about how this thing could potentially look to the trade union movement overall. And, in fact, that's a good part of the reason they were forced to be involved.

    They're not stupid. The Hobbit story was the big Union story and they had to do their best not to make it look less bad than it was.

    But let's face it, that's a pretty big ask. It's not a job I'd want forced upon me.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 312 posts Report

  • giovanni tiso,

    I don't believe the CTU were involved in the initial MEAA/Equity action in any way shape or form.

    No, it was all part of a strategy of unrest by the Left, you silly.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Nick Shand,

    Ideologically Actors Equity has no equity

    I believe the best example of this is that the votes that occurred in the Auckland and Wellington meetings are non binding. The press release from JWL after the Auckland meeting stated that the committee would later confer to decide the balance of the voted outcomes.

    auck • Since Aug 2008 • 79 posts Report

  • DexterX,

    Jackie - if by extraordinary extrapolation you mean that I wouldn't allow NZAE to work on my car because they are likely too stoned??

    I will not be voting Labour if the Hobbit goes and if I had been aware of what was just going down re the blaklist I would not have supported Brown.

    A NZ Trade Union operated without a National Council for 20 years and did not file accounts for that same period, the Registrar of Incorporated Societies let it slide. The ministers with portfolio responsibility let it slide and this was ministers in both the current National and previous Labour Government.

    The geezer who acted as the National Secretary for this union appointed himself by way of an honorary self-appointment and got away with it. His cause was supported by CTU.

    This is how it rolls.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1224 posts Report

  • DexterX,

    So CTU "were bought in to try to bring reason to the mess once everything had gone pear-shaped” as people have said, really??

    Why didn't CTU say lets get it sorted bring the governance up to date, then go to the membership and industry, see what they wanted and what was needed and then move to assist NZEA with negotiations from a sound position.

    Why did CTU step into the fray in the manner they have and make it worse?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1224 posts Report

  • rodgerd,

    They were brought in to try to bring reason to the mess once everything had gone pear-shaped.

    Cue "spolit brat", "like a lynch mob", etc. Epic fail.

    No, it was all part of a strategy of unrest by the Left, you silly.

    Which is no more ridiculous than the apparently global conspiracy where a US film studio and the National Party have been working together to make AE do a bunch of dumb stuff to advance both their agendas.

    All it's missing is the Rothschilds and lizard people.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 512 posts Report

  • Nick Shand,

    This is how it rolls.

    Yet there are many strong competent unions operating with complete transparency to achieve improved conditions that benefit both employees and employers

    auck • Since Aug 2008 • 79 posts Report

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