Angry Printing Industries members have again challenged the PIAA’s actions, this time claiming the proxy vote process for the upcoming SGM is ‘biased, misleading, deceptive and wrong.’
They also want to have a vote of no confidence in the Board at the SGM, at present the vote at the SGM will be a vote of confidence in the Board.
The proxy vote issue is key to the SGM, as it is likely that many of the PIAA’s 1000 plus members will not be making the trip to Mascot on Feb 23 but voting by proxy. The group that is agitating for the dismissal of the Board says the proxy form is loaded in favour of the Board.
With more than 900 votes at stake the group of concerned members, known as the Printing Industries Members Action Group, recognises there is plenty at stake.
The Action Group currently comprises some 93 members, 53 from Queensland, 40 from the rest of the country including some high profile printers, as well as industry identities Andy McCourt, who is the editor of the PIAA-backed trade magazine Print 21, and recruitment agent James Cryer.
Tom Eckersley of Print Approach, who is the leading the Action Group charge, has already penned a letter to the Fair Work Commission (FWC), arguing the association called for the SGM and has structured the proxy voting process in a ‘biased, misleading and deceptive’ way.
The Group believes the way proxy votes will be handled deviates from the standard PIAA regulations. One aspect of the voting process includes the item ‘a member entitled to attend and vote is entitled to appoint a proxy to the president’; an option members believe is slanted too far in the Board’s favour and fails to offer alternative options, which include having any member as their proxy.
The man behind the letter, Tom Eckersley, told ProPrint that while it ‘doesn’t matter who calls the meeting’, he points out there is ‘fundamental technical errors’ in the format of the proxy vote.
In his complaint, Eckersley states the proxy vote structure offered to members unable to attend the meeting in person could result in a ‘stacked vote’, which means the PIAA is able to tally ahead of the actual vote- an unfair advantage for the Board.
The signatories also want to ensure certain items are staying on the agenda, including the vote of no confidence and whether the current Board will remain or be immediately replaced through a rigor vetting process.
[Related: Allen defends PIAA]
“I can confirm I sent a letter yesterday to the secretary (Craig Pearce) to make sure a vote of no confidence, amongst other things, will be on the agenda,” says Eckersley.
“The primary focus of the meeting is to determine whether the board will remain or stand down, and how we will replace them.”
He also says the heavy list of demands himself and other members set out for the Board will not be discussed in the SGM, but hopes this ultimatum will be addressed ‘in due course’.
The PIAA called an SGM in a surprising move on Friday, which was widely interpreted as the PIAA Board going on the offensive, as it effectively derailed the Members Action Group from calling its own SGM, and means the Board gets to set the agenda.
Members initially pushed for the meeting to grill the Board about the turbulent last few weeks, and listed demands the association were unwilling to accede to – including the immediate stepping down of CEO Jason Allen and reinstatement of key staff.
Association members also are up in arms that both the newly elected president Ross Black and deputy Kieran May are not actually printers.
Members had threatened an SGM for some weeks, however the Board pushed it back due to the ultimatum’s limited time frame. The date of the SGM is scheduled for Tuesday February 23 at 2pm at the Graphic Arts Club of NSW in Mascot.
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