Fletcher Building executives double pay cuts to 30%

Monday, 6 April 2020

Fletcher Building senior executives have agreed to increase their pay cuts to 30 per cent after staff said they were bearing the brunt of the financial impacts of Covid-19.

Last week the country's largest construction company proposed a 12-week pay plan, starting this week, where non-working staff would receive 65 per cent of their salaries until April 22.

After the four-week lockdown their salaries would be slashed by 50 per cent for the next month, and by 70 per cent the following month while senior staff, including chief executive Ross Taylor, would take a 15 per cent cut.

But on Monday morning in an email to staff, Taylor said after feedback from workers that this was too low he had extended the pay cut to 30 per cent for the 12 senior executives including himself.

Taylor's salary including benefits was $5.3 million last year.

**READ MORE:

* Worker's wife writes open letter to Fletcher Building chief executive Ross Taylor

* Sir John Key says 15 per cent pay cut too low for Fletcher executives to take

* Fletcher Building staff say they feel pressured by short consultation timeframe

* Fletcher proposes 'massive' pay cuts in 12-week plan**

A number of Fletcher Building employees told Stuff they felt pressured into accepting the pay proposal within the 24 hours notice period they were given, as their alternative was unpaid leave or redundancy.

Employees, along with former prime minister Sir John Key, said senior executives taking a 15 per cent pay cut was too low. 

However, in Taylor's email to staff, he said of its 9000 employees, 8600 members had taken up the pay proposal. 

'Some people thought the process was rushed. This is understandable, but the reality is that we had to move quickly. We need to make immediate decisions now to give our people certainty and to protect our business over the lockdown,' Taylor said.

'In the coming weeks we will work with the small number of people who did not sign up to the programme on a way forward.'

Taylor said over the weekend the company considered workers' feedback, 'which was genuine and included a lot of heartfelt support for each other'.

'It was pleasing to see that our people understand the difficult situation the company is in, but that we are trying to support them. While we cannot keep people who are not working on full pay at this time, our bridging programme means they remain a part of Fletcher Building.

'Consultation is about listening to our people and based on the feedback from affected employees, Fletcher Building will implement further changes to its earlier proposal.

'We were also asked to reconsider the pay cut for our most senior leaders, which includes myself, 11 other senior managers and our directors, as they thought we could have gone further than the 15 per cent proposed. We have listened to our people and we will be extending that to 30 per cent through this 12-week period.

'Our executive team continues to work throughout the lockdown, to ensure we are best placed for when the restrictions are lifted.'

Taylor also said in the email the company's Employee Welfare Fund had 'greater capacity to support financial hardship' for those who 'need it the most'.

Amalgamated Workers Union national secretary Maurice Davis said it was 'a shame' employees had to publicly express how they felt about the process before the company decided to increase senior executive's pay cut. 

'It took John Key to lambaste them to come to this decision,' Davis said.

E tū union member Joe Gallagher, who also represents some Fletcher Building staff, said while increasing their pay cut was 'a step in the right direction', the company needed to be more transparent with its plans and procedures.

'For the chief executive to proudly say 93 per cent accepted the pay proposal makes little sense. His workers are in a lockdown, sitting at home. They had no choice but to accept the pay proposal. There was no co-ordinated process,' Gallagher said.

'When the lockdown lifts, we're going to need our construction workers to pull us out of this. The bosses might have taken 30 per cent pay cuts, but [the workers are] still the ones who have had to take big pay cuts on their $50,000 salaries.' 

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