More than 100 staff at Wyndham council have unanimously passed a vote of no-confidence in chief executive Kerry Thompson.
Australian Services Union members gathered at the council’s Hoppers Crossing depot on October 21 following calls by ASU branch secretary Brian Parkinson for Ms Thompson to be sacked.
As reported in the Weekly, Mr Parkinson said Ms Thompson has shown an “appalling lack of judgement” in spending $354,892 to hire a private investigator and fight unfair dismissal claims lodged by five parks and gardens workers who were sacked on the investigator’s word.
He also raised concerns about Ms Thompson’s decision to sack supervisor Phillip Leyshan without reading his written response to the investigation.
ASU organiser Dave Beckley said more union members would be involved in a vote outside the civic centre tomorrow afternoon before writing to councillors to inform them of the outcome.
“It is the opinion of the ASU and its members that had Kerry Thompson read [Mr Leyshan’s] response and investigated the matter properly, there would be no need to go to court,’’ he said. “People are very annoyed. I have had calls from a lot of people in recent days asking why the council got away with it.”
Mr Beckley said the union was also
pushing for the council to sign a memorandum of understanding banning workplace surveillance.
He said there were fears about workplace privacy, but the union hoped other councils would not follow in Wyndham’s footsteps and hire private investigators to spy on staff.
Ms Thompson has defended her actions, saying she took the steps she believed were necessary to prevent inappropriate workplace behaviour and the misuse of ratepayer resources.
“We considered we could not allow wastage of ratepayer funds when staff are not doing the right thing at work,’’ she said.
‘‘We have to draw a line in the sand.”
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