JANZ calls 'secret' meeting

Posted June 21, 2011 | By Coleby Nicholson

After the recent furore surrounding JANZ ending its support for a formal peak industry body, it appears New Zealand’s largest jewellery association has called a ‘secret’ meeting to iron out the confusion in its own ranks.

Following Jeweller’s reports of the confusion and internal disagreement about the events of the May 25 JANZ Advisory Committee meeting, a Special Meeting of the JANZ executive committee has been called for June 29 but it remains unclear what the purpose is.

The official notice did not provide an agenda, but the accompanying email issued by JANZ trade group executive Brenda Chalmers stated, “We request your attendance at a special meeting to discuss the development of a Jewellery Industry Council.”

The email added, “We would ask that this Notice of Meeting is not made public or advised to any media in advance of the meeting.”

The notice and the request not to allow the date and time of the meeting to be made public has led some Kiwis to ask why an industry-based organisation has a need for secrecy.

The call for a Special Meeting stems from the confusion in late May over who said what and when at the meeting of the six member Advisory Committee that had been established by JANZ to investigate the unification of New Zealand jewellery industry.

JANZ executive director Russell Sinclair had told Jeweller that the committee voted on ending the negotiations over a jewellery council and there was only one dissenting vote, but JANZ chairman Mark Becket who is a member of the Advisory Committee refuted Sinclair’s claims that a formal vote took place. “No vote was conducted. If it was, it would have been minuted,” Becket said last month.

Part of the confusion over JANZ’s decision to scuttle the concept of a peak body in conjunction with JWNZ was explained when Sinclair was forced to admit a slip-up. He explained in an email to Jeweller, “I don’t recall using the word 'vote' during our conversation [with Jeweller] but if I did it was an error.”

After Sinclair’s admission it also became apparent that there was further confusion over whether the Advisory Committee even had a majority view, vote or no vote.

After Jeweller’s initial report – but prior to Sinclair’s back-down about a ‘vote’ – JANZ and JWNZ presedent Steve Crout issued a joint statement declaring, “Since the inaugural meeting of the various jewellery industry associations in New Zealand, a harmonious and co-operative relationship has resulted between JANZ and JWNZ being the two major representative bodies within the NZ jewellery industry.”

The statement went on to confirm that the New Zealand jewellery industry will not be unified under one council because, “each organisation will continue to retain their current structure”. But it quickly became apparent that that was against the wishes of at least three of the JANZ Advisory Committee.

Jeweller reported that Sinclair continued to claim that it was a majority decision but one member of the Advisory Committee was left shocked and still refuted Sinclair’s claims. He complained that the committee was given almost no time to consider the topic and said, “They [Russell Sinclair and Steve Crout] think they run the jewellery trade in New Zealand and they don’t.”

Jewellery Manufacturers Federation chairman Greg Jones and his committee were equally unhappy with the outcome.

“We believe that right now there is an opportunity to form a single jewellery council which would administer matters of common interest to all of the current disparate jewellery bodies. The council could administer things such as industry training, a magazine, better benefits from insurance and credit card rates and other matters deemed as of common interest,” he wrote for his members.

“If this single council does not occur, you will have been poorly served by your industry leaders,” he added.

The latest development adds further confusion to an already chaotic sequence of events surrounding the views of JANZ’s own committee. It was not made any easier because Sinclair, one of the six members of the Advisory Committee, is not a jewellery industry participant but a paid employee of New Zealand Retailers Association of which JANZ is a specialist trade section.

Jeweller emailed both Sinclair and Chalmers asking why there was an attempt by JANZ to hold a ‘secret’ meeting. At the time of publication, neither had responded.

One person familiar with the events suggested that the Special Meeting may have been called to retrospectively endorse the original announcement to scuttle discussion and support for a formal New Zealand peak jewellery industry body, but neither Sinclair nor Chalmers responded to that proposition either.

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