This article appears in the Nov/Dec 2014 issue of Business Franchise Australia & New Zealand
New FANZ Board takes up its responsibilities following the AGM
At its first meeting of the FANZ Board following the annual elections, Board members elect the Chair and Vice Chair positions for the following year.
For the coming 2014/15 year Ian Robertson, National Franchise Manager of New Zealand Post, was re-elected to serve a second term as Chairman, with Brad Jacobs, Director of The Coffee Club, New Zealand, re-elected as Vice Chairman.
Ian Robertson is an experienced franchise professional with more than 20 years in the franchise industry; initially as a franchisee and then in franchise sales, recruitment, training, operations and management. He was elected to the Board in 2011 and as Vice Chairman in 2012.
Ian is passionate about franchising and the benefits it has to offer and he commented, “As an industry that generates a turnover of approximately $20 billion in New Zealand, franchising contributes significantly to our economy. The high standards set by members of the Association, combined with their commitment to self-regulation, certainly add credibility to those franchise systems and affiliates that are members.”
Ian went on to say that the work carried out by the Board over the last two years, to develop and implement the free pre-entry online course for prospective franchisees and more recently, under a working group led by Vice Chairman, Brad Jacobs, to launch the Association’s own web directory of franchises for sale and franchise advisors, buyafranchise.co.nz, was a great testimony to the Board’s focus on developing more and improved services to FANZ members.
WFC Joint Declaration
The WFC members in Taiwan jointly signed a Declaration clarifying the structure of employment in a franchise contract.
This need for clarification follows a much publicised recent issue that arose in California in relation to McDonald’s, where there was a proposal for a California Senate Bill that would have established that a franchisor could be considered a joint employer of their franchisee’s employees. This Bill was vetoed last week by the Governor, thanks in great part to the strong lobbying of the International Franchise Association, the national association for the United States.
This issue relates also to the perception in the minds of many in countries (legislators, trade unions, media, etc.) that a franchisee is not truly an ‘independent’ entrepreneur.
This joint statement is important in that it is a communiqué from the single widest international franchise body and that it strongly upholds that franchisor and franchisee are totally independent entrepreneurs.