Thompson resignation expected

Stuff reports:

Embattled employers’ chief Alasdair Thompson is expected to quit today as his lawyers fight out the terms of a settlement.

Sources said last night that Mr Thompson had not resigned as chief executive of the Employers & Manufacturers Association (Northern) and the lobby group’s board had not requested his resignation. But there was no will for Mr Thompson to continue in the role, one source said. …

It is believed that big corporate members of the EMA have agitated for his removal in the past 48 hours but progress has been bogged down.

The initial remarks were survivable. It was the two appalling Tv3 interviews that demonstrated such a poor lack of judgement that made the status quo so difficult to continue with. Everyone has a bad day when they say something wrong in an interview. But to then go on and make things worse, knowing it is such a sensitive issue, and having had hours to prepare, was such a bad look.

Labour list MP Carol Beaumont said it was clear Mr Thompson could not continue in his role, and the board should not need to deliberate so long about it.

What an appalling statement. Carol knows full well that the EMA is bound by the law of the land and they can not make any decision without formally putting towards Thompson their formal dis-satisfaction and allowing him reasonable time to respond to it. Carol’s job used to be to protect employees from employers who do not go through a fair and unrushed process.