Dear Matthew ...

Matt Jones from the UNITE union received an e-mail yesterday. The author of the e-mail also sent it to us, and has graciously consented to our request to publish it. We hope that Matt Jones took the time and trouble to read it, and to take the contents on board - read on:

Dear Matthew

In the wake of the September 4^th Canterbury Earthquake, our community was mobilised in a way never seen since perhaps World War II, in the wake of devastation across the city, thousands homeless and our central city locked down in a state of emergency, our residents put aside their differences and political beliefs and pitched in to stabilise the social fabric of our city.

Students massed to clear streets, welfare centers were flooded with donations of food, blankets and water containers while hotels dropped their prices to assist dislocated families. We then turn to the Unite union….

As employees returned to work to assess the damage, clear stock and reassure the public that they would continue to trade through this difficult time. Unite took it upon themselves to enter these businesses to “inform workers of their rights” which consisted of encouraging workers leave work and go home as their employers attempted to create a sense of normality in Christchurch.

Phase two of the operation was then to blackmail these businesses with a ‘name and shame campaign’ in an attempt to slander the owners of businesses within the emergency zone or with damaged premises as well as businesses which were open but had staff unwilling to work. Unite effectively took advantage of the uncertainty and confusion in the days after the quake to push their political agenda.

I was then unsettled to learn this morning that as the dust has settled in Christchurch, power and water services are restored and most businesses have re-opened, Unite now plans to spend this weekend conducting a ‘tour of shame’:

“to travel from business to business on Sunday and set up "lightning pickets"

Rather than use the 80 people expected to attend the tour to shovel sidewalks, clear properties, relocate families or contribute to the welfare of Cantabrians in anyway, Unite is attempting to use the publicity surrounding the quake to further their politics and their attacks on employers. I would urge all members of Unite, in particular the regular activists to review their place in the world and their general sense of morality.

This disaster has brought out the true nature of all Cantabrians and I am proud to say that for the most part this has reflected their honesty, compassion and generosity. Looking at the response from Unite and yourself, Matthew, it is obvious that the plight of Christchurch and the welfare of its citizens take a backseat to your politics and your war on businesses and employers.

I ask that you and your supporters reflect on this.

We commend the author, who comments here from time to time. We would love to be able to report that Matt Jones read the e-mail, reflected upon it, and then issued a media statement calling off the so-called Tour of Shame. We have checked The Press, Jones' organ of choice for disseminating his "all-bosses-are-arseholes" rhetoric, but alas, there is no such statement. We must conclude than that the Tour of Shame will proceed.

We cannot express our condemnation of Matt Jones and UNITE strongly enough. This is an ill-timed attempt to bash employers, many of whom will be fearful about the very survival of their businesses, and their ability to provide jobs to members of Jones' union.

We own and manage a business employing well over 20 people. Our staff are well remunerated, and we do our best to provide the best possible conditions of employment. We certainly don't regard ourselves as exploitative bosses, even though we don't always get things right. But at the end of the day, it's our money which is keeping the business afloat; it us that have the sleepless nights, and it is us who bear the risk that goes with business ownership.

Matt Jones doesn't see this. He has a myopic, utopian view of a world where employers kow-tow to his demands. The real world is not like that. And Christchurch in 2010 is so far removed from Jones' idealist worldview that it's not even funny.

So do the decent thing Matt; put aside your Tour of Shame and get out and help the people of Christchurch who need help the most. At the moment, the only person being shamed is Matt Jones.