8. September 2007 - first lesson after summer break - part #3

The last part of our homework is to answer the following question:

Is it ethical for president Verzetnitsch to claim termination gratuity?

To be honest, a very difficult question. In principle, every employee has the right to claim termination gratuity (if not resigned by themself). In Mr. Verzetnitsch case the situation is a little bit more complicated. To fully understand the dimension of this question I am going to explain who Mr. Verzetnitsch was in the past, namely the president of the labour union in Austria and therefore the representative of thousands of ordinary Austrian labour force. Due to some troubles in the past Mr. Verzetnitsch was dismissed from his job.
Today the litigation between Mr. Verzetnitsch and the Austrian labour union regarding the claim of termination gratuity of about 850.000 euros dominates the headlines. In that special case the question about ethics is not the question about the right to claim but the question about the amount of the claim. Anyhow, 850.000 euros is mostly more than the lifetime-earning of an ordinary labour force (which was represented by Mr. Verzetnitsch in the past!).

The paragraph above is my private opinion.

so long,
werner