With a host of public servants, from the police to nurses, threatening strike action over pay, perhaps Gordon Brown could take a lesson from a car salesman in Atlanta, Georgia.
Dealership boss Rolandas Milinavicius, 38, took a hard-line stance on continual pay demands from two of his employees. He acted decisively and ensured that the issue was dealt with once and for all by picking up a gun and shooting them both dead.
The RM Auto International owner has been charged with the murders of Inga Contreras, 25, and Martynas Simokaitis, 28.
Local police captain Russell Popham said: “The employees were really not happy about the pay, and they had questioned him about it over the course of time. That morning he said he just snapped.”
There’s a fine line between ‘snapped’ and ‘took control of the situation’. Either way, bosses from the prime minister down could learn a few things from Milinavicius. Like how to spell his name, for a start.
Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance
Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday
But seriously, if Brown appeared at the Trades Union Congress annual conference next month with a pistol and three bullets then we might see fewer arguments from the heads of the Public and Commercial Services Union, Unison and the National Union of Teachers.
And on a broader scale, Milina… the accused may hold the key to getting HR professionals more respect in the boardroom. They have long pontificated over how to get taken seriously. Guru reckons a theatrically brandished Glock should do it.
