‘Massive’ pay cuts proposed for Fletcher staff

Fletcher Building has proposed its executives take a 15 per cent cut in pay, but other staff could see a 70 per cent slash in income in the weeks after the coronavirus lockdown.

Last week staff said they were uncertain about their pay during the month-long Covid-19 lockdown after the company said the Government’s wage subsidy programme would determine how it would pay staff after this week.

Fletcher Building chief executive Ross Taylor said in an email yesterday the company was proposing a 12-week plan during this time of uncertainty.

According to the plan, starting next week non-working staff currently on special leave earning full pay would receive 65 per cent of their salaries until April 22. After this, staff pay would decrease to 50 per cent of base pay for a month, and then they would be paid 30 per cent of their income for the following month.

A Fletcher Building spokeswoman said from the March 26 to April 3, staff would be on full pay. For the next 21⁄2 weeks, they would receive 65 per cent of their base pay ‘‘equating to a monthly average of around 80 per cent’’.

Meanwhile, the executive team, general managers, the chief executive and those reporting directly to Taylor would take a 15 per cent cut throughout.

Staff were asked to use annual leave to top up pay to 100 per cent.

‘‘With this being an evolving situation, what we do will necessarily change as circumstances and the Government’s response changes,’’ Taylor said.

The company had to make business decisions ‘‘in an environment with no production, no sales and therefore extremely limited income, for a yet undetermined period’’, he said.

‘‘We want to support our people through the current uncertainty and provide clarity around pay so our people who are not working can plan ahead.

‘‘At the same time, we need to tightly manage our financial position to ensure that our business remains resilient and in a strong position to resume operations, as when the restrictions are lifted. We also need to factor in that any restart would be a gradual process.

‘‘As part of our actions to date, we have made several significant moves to preserve our cash levels.

‘‘Despite these actions, we are simply not able to continue to pay all our New Zealand people who are unable to work at 100 per cent of their normal pay over the lockdown and ramp-up period.’’

Taylor also told staff who were not working during the lockdown, Fletcher Building was putting together a proposal called Bridging Pay Programme.

A Fletcher employee, who Stuff agreed not to name as they feared losing their job, questioned the message this sent to staff. ‘‘Their rationale is that they are working fulltime. Do they not think that non-working staff would much rather be working than taking a massive pay cut?’’

E tu¯ Union industry coordinator Joe Gallagher said the company was acting disingenuously with its executives taking a 15 per cent pay cut, while employees not working during lockdown would see a 70 per cent pay cut in the weeks after the month-long lockdown.

‘‘At least guarantee your staff 80 per cent of their wages. Construction workers will be critical to pull us out of a recession.

‘‘These big companies need to make sure they’re supporting them during the tough time.’’