Members criticize the dismissal of SWA Director Fredi SchwabBy Markus knöpfli Not all members of the Swiss Advertisers Association (SWA) appreciate the way in which SWA Director Fredi Schwab was dismissed by his own board (WW 15/02). Some now want to appeal against the board's decision by collecting signatures.
WerbeWoche research shows: The SWA base is seething. How strong it is will become clear in the course of this week. The 130 or so SWA members have until April 26 to appeal against a decision by the SWA Board of Directors to remove the previous SWA Director Fredi Schwab. An appeal can be lodged if at least ten percent of members request it. An Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) would then have to be held.
And some things need to be clarified, in particular the way in which the SWA board provided information. In its old composition (see box), the board reportedly allowed the SWA AGM on March 13, 2002 to pass before informing Schwab and later the members - even though the contract with Schwab's successor Jürg Siegrist had apparently already been signed in December. Shortly before, on November 30, 2001, the Board of Directors is said to have decided to remove Schwab.
Not a word was said about any of this at the well-attended AGM on March 13. Only the six newly elected board members (see box) were apparently informed shortly afterwards, while Schwab himself was only informed at the end of March - hours before he went on vacation for two weeks. All other SWA members received the corresponding written notification, dated April 16, after Schwab's return, just two days before Siegrist officially took up his post on April 18.
SWA member Fred Dietiker, Head of Media at Swiss Milk Producers, is not happy about all this. Firstly, he criticizes the Board's "disconcerting" approach to Schwab. Secondly, he does not understand "why the Board of Directors removed a person with such a good track record - and if it did, why it did not disclose this at the AGM." And thirdly, he has doubts as to whether everything was above board at the SWA AGM. "We discharged the Board of Directors without knowing that it had decided to dismiss Schwab," says Dietiker. In addition, the SWA members had approved a budget for this year that did not include a double salary - for the new Managing Director and for Schwab, who is still in charge of two SWA mandates until the fall.
"What has happened is not yet transparent for us members," says SWA member Fritz Zimmermann, Head of Media at SBB. "An extraordinary general meeting could provide clarity here." It may also be necessary "for the lawyers to look into the matter". Without clarification, however, the unity and thus the effectiveness of the SWA would be impaired, Zimmermann fears.
The SWA Board of Directors is maintaining an elegant silence
But how does the Board of Directors react to the accusations? SWA President Gérard Stalder could not be reached. SWA Vice President Georg E. Müller simply sent an email with the following content: "We, the President and the Board, have no further comments to make on the communication you received last week." Former Board member Urs Keiser also explicitly did not wish to comment. The other former or resigned members of the Board of Directors could not be reached. Of the new Board members, Thomas Golücke, Muriel Arts, Jürgen Pick and Werner Bärtschi could be reached, but Golücke did not wish to comment. Pick and Bärtschi regretted Schwab's dismissal, but as new Board members they did not want to assess the background to this. However, both confirmed that the previous Board had acted in a legally correct manner - at least as far as they could have checked. Arts, for its part, backed the official communication from the Board and did not wish to comment further on the actions of the SWA Board.
Ueli Custer, publicist and previously Schwab's professional advisor, has already drawn the necessary conclusions. In a letter to Stalder, he wrote that he did not support Schwab's dismissal and did not agree with the procedure. He will therefore no longer advise SWA, he told WerbeWoche.
The SWA Board of Directors
It was in this composition that the SWA Board decided to dismiss Schwab:Gérard Stalder, SWA President
Georg E. Müller, SWA Vice Chairman, GE Capitalbank
Urs Hammer, McDonald's
Peter Schmid, UBS
Alain Bonta, Novartis*
Urs Keiser, BRO Finance & Solutions*
Marco Taborelli, Effems*
The six newly elected** members of the Board of Directors:Muriel Arts, Lever Fabergé AG
Werner Bärtschi, Subaru
Thomas Golücke, Novartis
Claude Hauser,
Federation of Migros Cooperatives
Stefan Nünlist, Swisscom
Jürgen Pick, British American Tobacco (Suisse)
* Resignation at the AGM on March 13, 2002
** at the AGM on March 13, 2002