Tears as Fox sees all those jobless
news.com.au. .. .Tears as Fox sees all those jobless. .By RICHARD GLUYAS. .The Australian. .08mar02. .. .A CRESTFALLEN Lindsay Fox, occasionally in tears, is on a public mission, craving absolution for his role in last week's dramatic collapse of his Tesna bid for Ansett with close friend Solomon Lew.. .. .But self-engineered rehabilitation is proving a difficult task for the determined trucking magnate, who is said to be worth about $340 million. . .. .There is also the threat of a class action by aggrieved Ansett workers who claim they relied on Fox and Lew statements the deal would proceed. . .. .Late last week, Fox and his "forward scouts" began inviting union leaders to a private meeting on Monday at Linfox headquarters in Melbourne's tree-lined St Kilda Rd. . .. .The meeting was held in Fox's expansive office, lined with pictures of Fox himself and Fox with famous people. . .. .Fox, of course, attended, along with daughter and public relations adviser Katrina and son Peter. . .. .Also there was the Linfox director and ex-ACTU secretary Bill Kelty, his former ACTU offsider and industrial officer Mary Stuart, as well as representatives from the Transport Workers Union, the Australian Services Union, the Ansett Pilots Association and the Flight Attendants Association of Australia. . .. .The meeting was to last about an hour. Fox, however, emerged no closer to achieving the rehabilitation he so keenly seeks. . .. .In fact, he sustained further collateral damage when TWU federal secretary John Allan summed up the situation in characteristically brutal terms. . .. .Allan said: "I told him he was the public face of Tesna and that it was quite normal for business deals to go to the wire. . .. ."But I also said he took 3000 Ansett jobs to the wire and that he would have to live with the stigma of that for the rest of his life." . .. .And how did Fox respond? . .. ."He seemed genuinely upset," said Allan. . .. .There were further explanations for Tesna's demise, but none was deemed satisfactory. . .. .Instead, there was a point where at least one attendee felt the unions were being led to believe that it was Lew, and certainly not Fox, who had decided to cut and run. . .. ."So it was put to Lindsay that it was the other half of the equation who pulled the pin," one source said. . .. ."Lindsay said: 'I'm not giving up my mates'." . .. .The Monday meeting was by no means an isolated event. . .. .A senior union source says there had been "lots of tears" as Fox tried to rehabilitate himself. . .. .He predicts that Tesna's demise will see Fox, 64, depart from the business scene a shattered man. . .. .The recriminations, as well, extend beyond the trade union movement.. .. .Of pressing importance to Fox and Lew will be any legal implications or liabilities arising from their late change of heart on Ansett. . .. .Late on Monday afternoon, ACTU secretary Greg Combet, flanked by industrial officer Richard Watts and representatives from labour law firm Maurice Blackburn Cashman, stepped into the Queen St chambers of Jonathan Beach QC. . .. .The decision to retain Beach to look at possible breaches by Tesna of section 53B of the Trade Practices Act, prohibiting misleading statements or conduct while offering employment to people, is yet more evidence of the union movement's determination to avail itself of the best available talent for a corporate stoush. . .. .In the early stages of the Ansett administration, Leon Zwier from the blue-blood corporate law firm Arnold Bloch Leibler was retained and helped remove PWC as the original, court-appointed administrator due to a possible conflict of interest. . .. .Beach's father, Victorian Supreme Court judge Barry Beach, has in the past earned the ire of the union movement. . .. .Australian Workers Union secretary Bill Shorten, who has also been embroiled in Ansett, wrote to Chief Justice John Phillips in October 2000, complaining about Justice Beach's alleged anti-union bias in a case he had heard in August of that year. . .. .Chief Justice Phillips found the allegations could not be substantiated. . .. .Beach's son, an expert in insolvency and trade practices, could signal soon that the unions might have a case against Fox and Lew. . .. .Public statements by Tesna that the deal would proceed shortly before it crashed will be examined. They will have to be balanced against Tesna's claim it was impossible to achieve settlement by the named date, February 28. . .. .Says one source: "This is a very unusual set of facts for a section 53B case. The cases usually involve job ads or statements by personnel agencies. . .. ."Here we are talking about people possibly being persuaded by what's been said publicly, and then maybe moving interstate to take an Ansett job or not accepting alternative employment." . .. .Meanwhile, Fox can expect his pleas to fall on deaf or resistant ears. "I reckon he's pretty clearly having problems with his conscience," a senior unionist says. "Some people say he's weeping daily. But in my job I go to meetings where hundreds of people are weeping, and none of them are worth $400 million."