Lines Company threatens lockout over pay increase

May 20, 2009
Media Release

Lines Company threatens lockout over modest pay increase – EPMU

Lines Company CEO John Anderson is threatening to lock out forty Te Kuiti workers without pay unless they drop a 2% pay claim worth just $26,000 a year across all members – a total less than the $30,000 pay rise he personally pocketed last year.

The forty EPMU members are linesmen and electricians and maintain the power network across Te Kuiti and the South Waikato region.

EPMU organiser Myles Leeson says The Lines Company’s position is unjustified and greedy.

“The Lines Company’s claim that there’s no money for a modest 2% pay increase simply isn’t credible when you consider it’s just given CEO John Anderson a personal pay increase larger than what we’re asking for all forty of our members combined.

“Perhaps if the company is wondering where to get $26,000 from it could consider reviewing its CEO’s $300,000 salary, or the $140,000 it pays out to its four board members to attend just eight meetings a year.

“The Lines Company is also trying to claim that it will have to increase power prices if our members get a pay rise. That’s ridiculous, even if the company passed on the entire cost of our members’ claims it would amount to just $1 per customer per year.

“This is a company that can easily afford a small increase for its staff but seems determined to drive its profits into the inflated salaries of management and the company board. We all know this kind of thing goes on overseas but I never thought we’d see it here in Te Kuiti.

“All these workers are asking for is an extremely modest pay increase to help provide for their families and go some way towards covering the rising cost of living. The company’s threat to lock them out without pay is a disgrace.”

The EPMU is New Zealand’s largest private sector union, representing 45,000 workers across eleven industries.

ENDS

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