That's right it was on this day 25th July 2001 that I was made redundant!
The Melbourne {Jewish} owner's despite protestations of
"there will be no redundancies" and
"you all are a valued part of the business" showed their true colours when they made us all redundant after June 30th.
We breathed a collective sigh of relief after that date had passed and thought that we were safe for another year.
Damm Victorians
I had been there 19.5 years always kept my nose clean and was a true company suck fat lot of good it did me the scum shat on me.
I copy a letter I wrote seeking answers as to why I had not got the Afternoon shift supervisor's position in 1998.
Mr Greg Ryman
Norcross Pty Ltd
5 Ferngrove Place
Chester Hill NSW 2145
Dear Greg,
As well over 2 years have passed. I am hoping that I can get some straight answers to questions that have been puzzling me for a few years. Namely the answers to why I was unsuccessful for the Afternoon shift Supervisors position.
Near the rear of the GTO you tried to entice me into your office for a private "Chat" but I declined so at 4.45pm on Friday the 27th of November 1998 on the factory floor I was informed by you that my application for such a position was unsuccessful.
You may not be aware but under the Equal Employment Opportunity Act I am entitled to answers as to why I did not get the position as this would enable me to better myself as it were and improve my chances next time round.
You informed me that Gary Peemoller had obtained the position and that "We have gone the whole hog and made Ray Plevey leading hand so you won't have to lock up any more". {The position of leading hand was not advertised!}
To which I replied confirming to myself your previous statement " Fine I won't lock up any more"
I asked you why I did not get the position as despite my 16 years of service with the company and my having been trained to run every printing press in the factory, the position went to a man who had only been employed for 18 months with the firm and was not familiar with all the printing presses?
You replied "You are not much chop as a printer and you are not worth feeding"
I said "But I have been here 16 years"
To that you replied " 16 years counts for nothing and if I had had my way I would have sacked you years ago!"
I asked, "In what way is Gary Peemoller a more suitable person for the position".
You replied that "He's a better man than you".
When I asked "why?"
Your reply was "Because he's older!"
I replied that "He's older than me by a month"
That could be construed as reverse age discrimination.
You then made a strange statement "Anyway we offer you jobs and you won't take them!" and with that you left
This little life vignette has left unanswered questions and I hope that you will be honest with me and tell me the truth. If it is as I suspect that the Afternoon Shift Supervisors position was promised to Gary Peemoller in order to entice him to take on a position with the company I am disappointed that you appear to not know me well enough to tell me the truth.
Questions that I would like answered:
1/ Why was my application unsuccessful? {This requires an explanation of my unsuitability for the position}
2/ Why was the Leading Hands position not advertised? {I believe it was company policy that all positions would be advertised internally?}
3/ Was Ray Plevey appointed to the position of leading hand because of his position as afternoon shift union representative? {Given that fact that most of the previous chapel executive received such "appointments" it really is a no brainer}
4/ What were thjob's's offered that I did not take? {Aside for the mailing machine job, was one of them when you tried to persuade me to run for the union chapel?}
I have been unable to find permanent work in the trade since my redundancy. The 3 casual jobs that I have been successful in obtaining didn't last longer than a month. I have found that when I am honest with the interviewer when asked as to why at my age I have no supervisory experience and explain this whole scenario the interview usually ends; the answers to the above questions would help me regain my shattered self-confidence and clarify the facts to prospective employers in the hope of gaining full time employment within my trade.
Yours sincerely
Well as you can see from the way I was treated that I was a fool to expect anything from them
I also have written the the General Manager
Noel Preston
Norcross Pty Ltd
1132 Nepean Hwy
Mornington Vic 3931
26/12/2003
Dear Noel,
You may recall asking if those assembled in the Norcross Sydney boardroom on July 24th 2001 if we had any suggestions as to what went wrong.
As well over 2 years have passed and I have had time to sort it all out I believe that your protege Windsor Main is partly to blame.
Windsor arrived in Sydney and was full of beans and friendliness but unfortunately he was not up to the task that you had supposedly set him, his youth and inexperience with the big wide world made him prey to those who could easily manipulate him. People can rise to their own level of incompetence; his poor social skills made him unsuitable for this position. Some people saw his arrival as that of a hatchet man, though this was strenuously denied, from them he gained the sobriquet Chopper.
He started off with an Open Door policy something that any good manager does not subscribe to fully, through this open door various sycophants made their way and Windsor in his innocence believed that they were all his friends. His inability to deal with problems was highlighted with his reluctance to actively involve himself with the problems that such a generous open door policy encouraged to be brought to him. He just did not seem to have a handle on the pulse.
In fact he developed so many "NEW" friends that the Open Door had to be closed and he started to withdraw from the real world.
In October 1998 I presented him with a paper designed to increase the efficiency of the GTO press. I have yet to receive any feed back from this paper.
Then in November 1998 there was appointed a new afternoon shift supervisor, people were dismayed, as it appeared the correct procedure for this appointment was not followed and were unhappy with the appointee.
A meeting was arranged with the unsuccessful candidates and a reluctant Windsor Main this took several days, the purpose of this meeting was we thought to explain the company's position as to the reasons for the new appointment. At this meeting Windsor made the statement "The company will chose the person that it wants for the job" There is no doubt that the company has that right and should be free to chose whom it likes.
However Windsor's reluctance or inability to address the issues as dealt in the attached letter to Greg Ryman was directly responsible for my e-mail to you. This e-mail had interesting results Windsor approached one of my work colleagues and told him to tell me that that e-mail was libelous this farcical statement as something is libelous or not, left me amused as did Windsor's inability to confront me directly as I was no more than 40 feet away at the time!
It is generally assumed that his tenure of two years was extended and his wife on getting wind of this commenced to agitate for a return to Melbourne leading to disharmony at home and the famous alleged comment " Everybody up here hates me I am going back to Melbourne". In Melbourne he was apparently told " You can come back to Melbourne if you like but you won't be working for this company". Shocked by this he withdrew into his shell and peered myopically out at his surroundings believing that everyone was out to get him and being fed this information by sycophantic toadying lackeys. From this I believe he developed an idea that if the Sydney operation folded he would be returned to Melbourne.
At this time his tame union chapel was replaced with a chapel that he believed he could not or was not willing to work with, also at this time we got the Windsor A3 graph for the future.
He refused to take any part in the major decision making process. The impact of his unhappy home life placed too much pressure on the man this was compounded by his seeming inability to achieve the necessary separation between work and home.
During this time he made the famous statement to the assembled factory " Noel Preston made me everything that I am".
His deterioration from there was extremely rapid and I sent him quotes from Sir Winston Churchill to try and inspire him to buck up and face all the problems head on, this resulted in a terse e-mail not to send him any more e-mail "as it was causing him stress" I believe he CC the same e-mail to you.
It was at this time I developed a theory that he was becoming mentally unbalanced.
About this time I tenderly broached the subject of the apparent winding down of the Sydney operation and Windsor's unusual actions and behaviour with Lee Kirby.
I was present at a meeting between the Chapel Executive and management where I was watching Windsor to see what his reactions were to a member of the Chapel executive, as the head management person there his body language to the impassioned oratory of the Chapel member would give me an indication as to what the company line would be. He seemed disinterested in the whole thing as if he wished to be some where else when all at once he turned to me and said " **** stop looking at me as if I was a creature in a zoo have some common decency!" The whole room was dumbfounded as his mental problems manifested themselves in this way.
After this outburst I vowed to keep out of his way, as unbalanced people are unpredictable and ones in positions of power who control an aspect of your life even more so.
During the industrial action it was reported the Windsor moved from the company rented town house to a large hotel as apparently he was in fear of his life. In my mind this was further proof of his mental state. This action was a clear affront to the Sydney Norcross employees.
In conclusion this report is merely brief to ensure that it is read and I could expand upon it if required suffice to say that Windsor's arrival in Sydney was I believe the start of its down fall. It is a known fact that approx. 80% of people are followers and Windsor I believe is one of them, he is not a leader and should have never been put into this position. If as I suspect you were aware of the poor mans mental stability before his appointment to the position then you might also consider yourself in someway partly responsible. In that case the downfall of Sydney was the initial aim and has been achieved.
Yours sincerely
Now may I Humbly point out that I stayed until the 27th as there were jobs on the press that needed to be finished off.
Garry Peemoller went home on the 25th as soon as he had picked up his check!
And he's a better man than me! BAH
Oh and Noel Preston did reply he suggested that I get counciling.
