Some comments on Mr Key's utterances in this regard:* Mr Thompson's dismissal was an entirely private matter between and employer and an employee (i.e. EMA is not a public or Govt. organisation - it is an incorporated 'private' membership organisation which is essentially akin to a private company). I understand Mr Thompson's dismissal was on grounds that he hurt the reputation of EMA;* Mr Thompson may yet choose to pursue a legal dispute on this issue with his employer (e.g. personal grievance etc). If this is the case, then any such action will potentially be a landmark case in this regard;* By commenting on the issue, especially in such strong terms against Mr Thompson, the Hon Mr Key was entirely out of order as, amongst other things, he may prejudice any legal dispute in this regard; and* The Hon Mr Key should be called to account on his loose and ill-thought out comments in this regard by, amongst other, the media who appear increasingly sycophantic in relation to him.
The argument that women get paid less because they take more sick leave is flawed not only by the unfortunate way that it was presented, but in itself. The entitlement to sick leave is governed under the employment act, and is part of the employment agreement signed by both employer and employee. As long as the sick leave does not exceed the contractually agreed quota, it does not affect pay.To argue less pay because of the (likely) number of sick leave the employee might take is therefore an invalid argument and deserves to be challenged.If statistics show – as claimed – that on average women take more sick leave then men, the reason for this would need to be investigated further. In the interview Alasdair Thompson himself indicated that personal health issues were only one of the reasons. Care for sick children was another. The fact that women are more likely to take time off work to care for sick children is far more significant in this debate, as it points to the very source of gender disparity, and how entrenched it is in our society. All children have both a male and a female parent, and if both parents are working they have equal right to take sick leave to look after their sick child(ren). Gender disparities will only begin to close when it becomes more commonly accepted in families as well in the workplace for men to make use of their sick leave entitlement for this purpose as often as women.Rather than dismiss Alasdair Thompson it would have been far more productive to illustrate the flaw in his argument to him, and use the same amount of publicity to get the message across to more people of his mindset. Dismissal of one person does not achieve the desired change in mindset in a large section of our society. Even worse, it cultivates such mindsets to become more hidden and less likely to be challenged.
What happened to free speech? In our office one older lady every few months heads of early to get a hormone implant. One lady has "heavy periods" each month and goes home early to lie down and another doesn't come in some days. I think he was saying what is fact.It is proven women take more time off than men and if you listened to the full interview as I did he mentioned a whole lot more that monthly problems. I thought he sounded very well rounded and informed in the interview. PC gone mad. Shame on the media. I hope he gets lots and lots of money.
I know as an employer that he is right , this country sucks more and more . A man is not even free to speak his mind , this could lead to people keeping queit for loosing their jobs . Unless youre Hone you can say whatever you like . Shame on this country , now publich the names of the people who pushed this man out of his job ( but we can't do that)
there was no reason to sack him. Many businesses experience the woman monthly sick leave. Also his comment was taken out of context. the media missed the point that he said men are more likely to be in jail, but picked up on a comment where he said SOME woman take a monthly sick leave, which they do. Let's see then we had the slut parades which put woman in a worse light. As someone else said, a maori politician can call people white mother bleepers and the racist race relations say nothing wrong with it. A white man says some woman take time off due to periods and all hell breaks lose. Pathetic.
this is just another case of a PC media willing to ruin a persons life by making mountains out of molehills to sell a story knowing the hyper sesitive womens rites movement would raise hell helping them to sell the story. It is time the media developed a public resposability and dumped the false "Publics need to know" they wave at the moment to justify this attrocious reporting.
No. He told it how it is, and as far as I know, was very good at his job. This seems to happen far too often in NZ. Clint Ricards, Paul Henry, Christine Rankin, John Tamahere......too many gone !
He should have been sacked soon after the event but perhaps these guys were hoping it would all go away or his "exit package" needed financing. We do have freedom of speech but that does not include freedom to lie.
nope dont think he should be sacked, maybe he should of picked better words though. Hone hawaira makes this guy look tame.
No he shouldn't have been sacked. He was only stating his opinion, about a matter that is a true fact concerning women in the workplace. What has happened to freedom of speech?
