Splash of colour for parade
A whirl of rainbow colours will brighten up construction sites this month.
Hamilton company Firth Concrete Trucks has partnered with Fletcher Building to embrace the LGBT community by decorating the bowl of a concrete truck in the lead-up to Auckland’s Pride Parade on February 17.
Fletcher Building was the first construction company to receive the Rainbow tick, which demonstrates a business that is an inclusive organisation for people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, takatapui and intersex, a progressive, inclusive and dynamic organisation reflecting the communities in which they work.
Lining the concrete bowl with rainbow stripes of tape was tasked to Artistic Media’s Mark Wright in Hamilton last week.
‘‘It is a unique challenge because of the curve of the truck, ‘‘ Wright said.
He is used to putting the unusual red and yellow decal on the trucks.
But his skills will be tested again with a second truck entered solely for the parade as it will be covered in 2500 mirror perspective squares.
And while the rainbow truck will be used on various job sites, for safety reasons the mirror truck will have to be unwrapped straight after the parade.
Fletcher’s business recruitment manager Rajiv Rathod has been one of the driving forces behind the trucks and admits the construction industry isn’t necessarily an occupation that would naturally embrace diversity in its community.
‘‘Breaking down the barriers has been a huge step, I started here four and half years ago and while we always embraced diversity but it was never spoken of.
‘‘The biggest challenge was engaging those employees that are out driving trucks, that are in the LGBT community, as it’s quite challenging for them.
‘‘However, Fletcher Building has provided our employees with plenty of tools in terms of training and providing the knowledge.’’
Acceptance of a diverse community is what Rathod is seeing as important to those coming through the junior recruitment process.
‘‘It was quite a key question that most graduates were asking in terms of diversity and in particular around LGBT community. It’s actually an area our younger generation is looking to in deciding which kind of organisation they would like to work for,’’ Rathod said.