Friday night's news

Couldn't help laughing over an item on the news last night. Seems Alasdair Thompson is on sick leave.

I couldn't help wondering if he has women troubles.:rolleyes:

ROFLOL

www.news.com.au/business/business-smarts...frfm9r-1226080815733

Stikkibeek;374683 wrote: I couldn't help wondering if he has women troubles.:rolleyes:

I'm sure he has. The troublesome women being the one from the John Campbell academy of info-tainment :rolleyes:

Though sick leave might be the perfect opportunity for AT to learn how not to dig holes (for himself) []

That interview is to be "saved" and used to train people on how not to create a train wreck when being interviewed by media.

I wonder if he has a wife and or daughters?????????

As a woman, I have to be honest and say that it is a ridiculous furore being made out of nothing when the country and it's people have so much more to worry about. I agree that it was an ill-advised statement but I have to wonder if there isn't an element of truth in it.

16 years ago just as I met Kevin, and was also looking at changing my job, I applied for four positions. At the interviews two of them made no secret of the fact they wanted a "mature" woman. Older women do not run off to get married, have babies, want time off during school holidays, want more time off because children have snotty noses, have to leave half-way through the day because said children are taken sick........ Both these interviews were conducted by.......... Women!

Cheers,
Ronnie

Yes, Ronnie, that was 16 years ago. And why shouldn't it be the fathers that are doing the running around after the children?
Women do have more time off because they tend to be caregivers and they are the bearers of our future generations. If he had said something like "We need to address the situation of women having to take time off work to care for children, when those children also have fathers" it may have been better - still controversial, but better. Also, its a bit of a catch 22. It is usually the women who take the time off to look after the kids because they are paid less. Now he is saying its okay to pay them less because they take time off to look after kids.

@ Anne, The fact still remains that women get pregnant, give birth and breastfeed which are all exclusively female abilities. Women are also emotionally and mentally tuned ('multi tasking') to cope with child caring than the typically male qualities of single task focussing and lower aggression threshhold.

Also the flipside of women pursuing their careers in preference to reproducing in that period of their life that nature designed them for is largely responsible for the large increase in infertility issues resulting in IVF and other attempts to generate a family too late in life. The term 'not being able to have it both ways' applies on multiple levels in this topic :confused:

I told my wife that when she gets offered a job that pays more than mine she should take it and I'll stay home fulltime.

Apparently the stats say that women have 1.6 more days of sick leave each year than men. Which, as someone else said, is to be expected as women are generally the primary day to day caregivers.
If Alasdair was some Joe Public guy or a publican or something I would pretty much ignore his comments as coming from some ignorant idiot. However, he is in charge of the Northern Region EMA and as such should be a LOT more in touch with reality.....and never forget that he represents men AND women! I am an employer and he certainly does not reflect my views.
As to maternity leave - I cannot see how you can include that when totalling up productive hours per person. A woman is not working during that time so her productivity job wise is nil as would be any man who took a 6 month unpaid leave to travel to Tibet or whatever.
I have a guy who works for us at the moment who has NEVER worked a full week! He's a pain in the arse and I want him gone. If he was taking time off to look after sick kids I would be slightly more understanding but when he has been with us for 6 months and never worked a full week thats too much. Maybe next year the difference between men and womens sick days will be smaller thanks to my useless employee

blimeyvicki;374934 wrote: I would be slightly more understanding but when he has been with us for 6 months and never worked a full week thats too much. Maybe next year the difference between men and womens sick days will be smaller thanks to my useless employee

Sounds like a good case in support of extending the trial period of employment.

The Manager, and I, can quite relate to what AT was trying to state. She was a schoolteacher, and for 1 week before, 1 week during, and 1 week after "that time of the month" she had awful problems. Both she and I appreciate that some women do not have menstruation and fibroid problems, but they are exceedingly fortunate. If they were a bit more sympathetic to their friends that do have these problems then they may have better appreciated AT's comments. NZ's problem is not AT's attitude, but rather that both parents have to work to earn enough to live rather than one staying at home to care for the extended, as in children and parents, family.

I think most of us can sympathise with women who have these issues and I am certainly most grateful that I don't but I think it would be fair to say that "most" women do not have these problems. My SIL has endometriosis and has had some awful problems but off the top of my head she is the only one I know in my personal "sphere" if you know what I mean ":0).
I suppose the difference is that a woman who suffers these problems does so on a regular basis where as a male who might suffer from diabetes or kidney stones or torn ACL or what ever does not do so on quite so regular a routine. I worked with a man who ruptured his archilles and had several weeks off work, a few days after he returned he did it again and had another several weeks off work.

At the time of having my children I was a self employed IT contractor. Self employed people do not qualify for maternity leave or in fact any paid leave at all! Needless to say I never took sick days either

Ronney;374750 wrote: As a woman, I have to be honest and say that it is a ridiculous furore being made out of nothing when the country and it's people have so much more to worry about. I agree that it was an ill-advised statement but I have to wonder if there isn't an element of truth in it.

I have to agree with you Ronney, and I agree with his comments - although he should have kept his trap shut!

I was asked to return to work back in April, for 1 day a week. I said yes, so long as I can find childcare for both kids. I thought I had it sorted, and started back in May. I only managed to get 2 days work in over the past 2 months due to my kids being sick or the carers kids being sick. When I went to the large childcare establishments, they had space for one child but not the other. I have no non-working family members who could have cared for my kids, so I had no choice but to say sorry, I can't work afterall.

Ronney, I also don't think that your situation 16 yrs ago has changed - my boss is female and she was not very understanding each week I rang to say I couldn't work because the kids were sick, etc. I could tell she was mightily pissed off with me!

I loved my job and would dearly love to go back to it, but the past 2 months showed obviously now is not the right time. I hope there is still a job for me in a few years time!

Prior to having kids, I had huge menstrual issues, taking at least 3-4 days off each month...thankfully my boss understood that!

I probably have only had one day off sick in the last 3 years. And never because of "women's problems".

According to CNN news flashes across the bottom of the screen a large NZ communications outfit had dismissed an employee for making remarks about women regarding work and menstation
It would appear that it was the above mentioned male -so he got the DCMfor his comments ( DCM= dont come back Monday)
Cheers Kevin