Members for Fletcher’s owned Firth Concrete in Waikato won an impressive minimum 9% pay increase amongst other benefits following a series of industrial actions with the troubled employer. One member even received more than the CEO, who despite the company’s reports of huge losses, received a whopping 17% pay increase before being exited from the company.
The actions included joining with other striking Fletchers’ workers and community activists at the company’s Annual General Meeting. One of the striking workers, Mathew Oates, said “we went into the Fletchers AGM and spoke about the fact that Firth workers can’t pay rent but the company hasn’t listened. Fletcher’s can’t expect us to survive on $18 per hour”.
Protestors from the Save Our Unique Landscape group also joined the protest over their frustration with a Fletcher Building project taking place on sacred Maori land in Ihumatao in Auckland.
Fletcher Building has since announced an operating earnings loss of $322 million for the six months ended 31 December 2017. The losses result directly from 16 large construction projects undertaken by B&I, including the New Zealand International Convention Centre in Auckland, and Christchurch’s Justice Precinct and are in no way related to the industrial actions or the members involved.
