The prize for the stingy employer of the week goes to Silver Fern Meatworks, who docked workers’ pay for observing two minutes silence, along with the rest of New Zealand, to pay their respects to the 29 miners who lost their lives in Pike River Mine.
It’s made us famous in Australian newspapers, as news spreads that slaughter chain workers at Te Aroha’s Silver Fern meatworks (which burned down shortly after) were docked between 98 cents and $1.60 each – saving the company at most $500.
Even the farmers are crying foul, with Otorohanga dry stock farmer and Silver Fern shareholder Andre de Haan, the immediate past chairman of Waikato Federated Farmers’ meat and fibre section, calling the decision “a load of crap”.
Someone else should be worried about the reputation of the company – and that’s the Minister of Agriculture, David Carter is who is a shareholder of Silver Fern Farms.
Mr de Haan’s says he doubted shareholders would support management’s decision to dock workers’ pay.
“I would have thought everyone would stand behind any gesture towards people that are in trouble like that.”
Does shareholder David Carter agree?
Come on Mr Carter – say something – anything.
Shame! Shame! Shaaaaaaaaame!
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Oooo, perhaps not…
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10694974
@Alex : no pay not docked, but pay not paid. Same thing.
A meek response to a terrible insult. Stingy? I would have titled the post incredibly disrespectful.
Obviously they weren’t being Stingy. Is it worth $500 to disrespect 29 dead miners and their families aswell as to take away a mans right to nationalistic mourning and get a bad wrap from the media? No, I bet they did it to proove a point.
I take your point but I think that both the union and the employer fell down here.
I would be happy to work an extra day and have that money paid to a fund for the miners families. My boss would match that most employees in New Zealand I think would agree to that. I like Farra’s take on this
http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2010/12/both_employer_and_union_to_blame.html#comments
That is what we should be doing as workers. Asking our e3 employers for extra work that we as employees and employers contribute to a fund on an equal basis.
They get paid for how many things they slaughter, they didn’t work for two minutes and thus they don’t get paid. The $500 the company has “saved” is actually more like $500 worth of work they didn’t get out of the workers.
It’s not the big of a deal, or a deal at all.
Nobody has really done anything wrong here.
The workers had to stop for the Pike Miners, therefore they shouldn’t have been penalised for the work that they weren’t allowed to do!
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AND at bleepin Xmas! Grinches!
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A non story and crying wolf at this is counter-productive.
The real story is the impact on layoffs on regions across the country and the relative importance of the West Coast layoffs because John Key was on TV there. FFS.
Or is this part of a con to get sympathy for more mining – even open pit mining Pike River as some locals ask?
The locals should have a larger say on what happens at Pike River than a bunch of late drinking chardonnay socialists in places that aren’t the West Coast. Though ultimately the decision rests on the powers that be, whether it is the company or the government
You don’t see Steven Joyce taking submissions from people in Dunedin about the (wasteful) CBD rail loop do you?
I am sure the shareholders of Silver Fern will be delighted that their investment is being well managed.
I am sure that the Business Round Table and Matthew Hooton will be praising this example of responsible capitalism.
Vast sums of money were saved.
The national economy has been stabilised.
Why do I have the need for a certain brand of beer?
Sorry Jack, but neither exploiting dead people to justify a mining operation that would otherwise have been rejected or overturning national environment standards to localised common denominator greed is OK.
@Jack: So it’s wrong in some way for Labour supporters to drink white wine and like it?
You think they should be forced to supk pale ale from cans whilst wearing cloth caps and toasting Whippet and tripe sandwiches instead?
You do have an amusing, if not a little outdated, penchant for sterotypes.
I advise better slogans as a new year resolution, otherwise this coming general election year is going to get really boring, really quickly.
Tee hee – Judging from your posts, I reckon you’re a Bitter man
I suppose the reason why I vote Green, rather than Labour, is that I prefer tea to latte and I prefer sauvignon blanc to chardonnay (though the pinot gris blend with sb is growing on me – and so might a pinot gris/pinot noir blend – a bit pink on the inside I suppose).
This post is not quiet on topic but it applies, sliver fern farms should of payed the $1.60 per worker.
I work for Sliver Fern Farms and I will tell you this, they are actual a**h***s (I have my fair share of rubbish). Thats why we have a union in the first place. This is why they re-brand themselves from PPCS to SFF in hope the could get rid of their ‘reputation’.
Darien your misreporting of the facts is truly incredible.
GN be careful what you allege. Warned. Clare
See, that’s the thing. Start implementing victorian labour laws and it’s no suprise to find bosses start acting like victorian employers.
“The two animals not processed one day would be processed the next day and thus no income was lost, he said.”
So not isssue at all. But it does show the pettiness of the left, and second rate workers who dont have the intelligence to work it out.
Why did you deliberately choose to omit that the union was equally to blame? They would not allow the workers to work for another two minutes to make the reuired numbers. Sounds like an equal stuff up from firm and from the the union.
(copied to Kiwiblog as will inevitably be deleted for being ‘offensive’)
How precious
Not precious just exasperated when any clever insightful comment is censored as happens often
Maybe you guys should just comment on Kiwiblog – win win really.
Trevor in for the win
Am watching the Backbenchers replay, Trev’s beach stance is great!
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On Kiwiblog (unlike the union) they won’t be able to work out that there are only so many animals to slaughter each season/week/month – and workers on piece rates cannot really lose out if they have 2 minutes not working on any one day.
There CEO really is a half wit for letting this nonsense blow up in the first place, the unionists are naturally going jump all over it and make a big deal out of something that was probably an oversight because thats all they really are about…. would someone just cut the lot of them a cheque for $200 and move on!… hell I’m tempted
SFF should have just paid this one methinks…
IHStewart, Le tme know how many donate their wages. I recall you posting this intent a few weeks ago and have thought of you since then.
i’m sure someone has already pointed this out, but i’ll say it anyway. when a period of national silence is called, that is because an of national significance, nearly always tragic, has occurred..
one of the fundamental tenets behind the call for silence is to demonstrate the unanimity of support and sympathy for the victims.
the political posturing that has arisen over this issue strikes me as rather tawdry. how can anyone, of any political persuasion, in all honesty, not recognize a small and petty act of disrespect, and be disappointed with the light it shows us in?
from what i’m hearing from rele’s who live and work down there, the relationship between the management and the shop floor is poisonous.. i think a recollection of the company’s history may be illuminating.