No confidence in CEO: workers

Gary Thompson | 10th July 2009

THE meeting outside the Gladstone Regional Council depot was electric and angry.

The Gladstone Observer

Poll

Do you agree that council's actions are discriminatory?

This poll ended on 09 August 2009.

Yes, they overreacted

77%

No, they did the right thing

It's difficult to say without hearing more

13%

This is not a scientific poll. The results reflect only the opinions of those who chose to participate.

THE meeting outside the Gladstone Regional Council depot was electric and angry.

More than 50 workers voted unanimously to condemn council chief executive officer Graeme Kanofski for his handling of the suspension of workmate and Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) delegate Don Schmidt.

In the resolution, they expressed no confidence in Mr Kanofski's handling of the disciplinary suspension of Mr Schmidt without pay and demanded that he be re-instated immediately without loss of pay.

Mr Schmidt was suspended after he wrote a letter to The Observer addressing the recently adopted new drugs and alcohol testing policy.

The meeting went further and agreed that should Mr Schmidt not be re-instated, that the council's workers hold a mass meeting at 9am on Monday morning outside the Gladstone council offices to address the issue.

The meeting expressed concerns that negotiations in an enterprise bargaining meeting being conducted yesterday would be compromised as the suspension meant an AMWU delegate had no input.

AMWU Central Queensland organiser Phil Golby told the workers that outcomes relating to these negotiations, in particular the mechanical division, would be null as a result.

Yesterday and Wednesday, a cone of silence descended around elected councillors and Mr Kanofski.

Mr Kanofski the he was unable to comment on the matter while Deputy Mayor Gail Sellers said she was unable to comment because it was a legal matter.

The policy on which Mr Schmidt based his letter to the editor had appeared in The Observer earlier and while he applauded its introduction, he questioned why elected councillors should not be subject to the same conditions.

Recent Comments

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Posted by kaneki from Biloela, Queensland

10 July 2009 7:09 p.m. | Suggest removal » | Post reply »

Where do we draw the line between obligations to the employer, and our rights to free speech as ratepayers? Seems the council is the one running scared - why punish somebody for a letter to editor about something which is public knowledge? And to be stood down without pay is too extreme - does the GRC not have a system in place like most other employers where you get warnings etc. first? If I was a cynical person (!) it would seem that perhaps they didn't want Mr Schmidt at the EB meetings and this was a convenient and quick way of getting rid of him for a while!

Posted by Commentmaker from Gladstone, Queensland

17 July 2009 9:30 p.m. | Suggest removal » | Post reply »

Did you know that Don's job was advertised for tender the same day he was stood down without pay?
Go Don Gladstone supports you.
Councilors take note, your constiuants are watching.