It’s election time at many unions around the country, and if there is one thing you can count on, there is seldom a shortage of interesting candidates.
One such candidate, running for the Finance Sector Union National Secretary position is Nick Perna.
Nick’s experience, based on his Linkedin profile, appears to have been entirely at the National Australia Bank, so he would bring to the role of secretary a range of experience that could be described as limited. Nick’s profile however does mention two years service as a “Senior Consultant” at Little Group Consulting.
Nick’s role as a “senior consultant” is described in this manner;
“Senior consultant specialising in assisting small & medium companies develop:
– Marketing strategy & development
– Business process architecture
– Process management, operational excellence & consumer insights programs
– Enterprise resource planning programs
– Agile project management capabilities”
It is unclear whether Little Group Consulting ever employed a junior consultant, however according to his LinkedIn profile, senior consultants must have been employed on a part time basis, as Nick’s record shows that show that he was working in full time positions at NAB at the same time. Perhaps this explains why Little Group Consulting has ended up a deregistered failure.
I wonder if the deregistered, failed business Nick put his efforts into, Little Group Consulting, while working for his long term employer, NAB, is what he refers to on his website as
“…proven leadership and trusted experience”
Nick Perna
Image- Facebook
Putting Nick’s failed consultancy and limited experience aside, what can the members expect from a Nick Perna led union?
Nick is running on a platform of ending waste, and membership numbers.
With campaign platforms like these, one would think Nick would be on steady ground. If only…
Nick knows a thing or two about attracting members, he launched his website and Facebook page on the 6th May and has already amassed 2,579 followers on his Facebook page, 1,000 of them by 10am on the day the page went live. With a command of the member’s mindspace like that, no wonder he wants to talk about member engagement.Many people have claimed to have noticed his number of followers tends to increase in groups of 25 or 50.
Nick has proven he can engage his followers by posting a YouTube video on how to vote in the FSU elections. When I looked at the clip earlier in the week it had been viewed 176 times, 3 of them mine. With engagement like that employers won’t have to be concerned that Nick’s 2,579 followers are going to turn militant in a hurry.
Perhaps where Nick went wrong with this video is that he forgot to put in a Russian translation?
Nick’s campaign has seemingly caught the attention of the Russians, with several members laughing about Russian pop up adverts appearing when they payed Nick’s website a visit.
The purchase of social media followers is perhaps an indication of a willingness to deceive members, or maybe a sign of someone driven by ego? One thing is certain, for someone running on a platform of ending waste, spending money to purchase social media followers from a foreign country is not indicative of someone with a sound head for wise investment.
I contacted Nick with several queries regarding his campaign and whether he has in fact paid for Facebook followers that may have come from Russia. As of publication, the man who speaks so highly of engagement has failed to engage or respond.
Nick’s plan to end waste is seemingly directly related to engaging with the members, at least it appears to indicate this on his campaign page.
Nick wants to end the waste by publishing and putting out “Less flyers and surveys”. Ironically these are the things that keep members informed and keep members engaged by giving them a say in how their union is run.
Nick also says on his site that union membership being down is a bad thing, while also stating he doesn’t want to recruit new members. Where does he think the members are going to come from if they are not recruited? Russia perhaps?
So for those FSU members out there looking to cast a vote, here’s a handy summary of Mr Perna’s plans.
- Increase membership engagement by engaging less.
- Solve the low membership by not recruiting new members.
- Rely on his experience as a senior consultant in a failed deregistered company to tackle business expenditure.
Nick Perna. From Russia with love.
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