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Paul Reynolds - Source: ONE News -
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Telecom's board has defended million dollar-plus salary packages for several of its executives as lines engineers strike over planned changes to their work arrangements.
The company's annual report released on Tuesday detailed packages including over $5 million for chief executive Paul Reynolds and a total of over $11 million for six other top executives.
The report for the financial year ending June 30 reported a 43.9% slump in the company's profits.
Engineering Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) national secretary Andrew Little said Reynolds' payment could not be more insulting to the engineers.
Up to 1,000 telecommunications engineers around the country staged a one-day strike this week as part of continued industrial action over plans to make the engineers owner/operators.
The engineers want their current employer, Telecom's network division Chorus, to abandon a contract agreement with Australian company Visionstream in Auckland and Northland.
The annual report put Chorus chief executive Mark Ratcliffe's package at over $1.9 million, while the packages of five other executives ranged from $1.4 million to nearly $2.6 million.
Chief financial officer Russ Houlden's package included $281,273 for accommodation and "some relocation and personal travel costs".
Telecom board chairman Wayne Boyd defended the payments saying the company had met all its financial targets in the year to June 30 while making significant progress in other areas.
"Under Paul Reynolds' leadership, our executive team has delivered on the demanding objectives set by the board over the past year," Boyd said.
He said Telecom had gone through unprecedented upheaval over the past three years while moving into an era of operational separation, and had responded well.
Boyd said New Zealanders relied on the telecommunications infrastructure and in the year to June 30, Telecom's total capital investment amounted to $1.3 billion.
The company had successfully launched its XT mobile network in May and customer uptake had exceeded expectations.
"Progress on our fibre-to-the-node rollout is well advanced, bringing fast broadband to more New Zealanders than ever before."
Boyd said customer satisfaction had also improved.
"Against this backdrop of achievement, the rewards given to our executive team are fair recognition for the outstanding job they have done as leaders."
Little said while hundreds of frontline Telecom workers were having their livelihoods and work rights stripped from them, Telecom was being driven by shameless greed and a disregard for the network they were entrusted with.
Under Visionstream, engineers would have to provide their own equipment and transportation, which the EPMU said would leave many staff jobless and put the future of New Zealand's telecommunications network at risk.
Labour MP Darien Fenton agreed Reynolds' package was a "bitter pill" for workers facing lay-offs with no redundancy pay.
"While some of the lines engineers have already been laid off without redundancy pay, others will be losing their jobs in a month's time," Fenton said.
"The exorbitant salary sends a terrible message to Telecom's workers. It also sends a strong message that there are two standards of fairness - one if you are a highly-paid executive and another if you are an ordinary worker."
Telecom is New Zealand's largest listed company. Do you think its CEO should be paid this much to do the job?
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Add a Comment:
Post new commentGabriela said on 2011-05-11 @ 20:57 NZDT: Report abusive post
Work at cost. Hiring was up in April, but so were unemployment numbers. However, one thing that hasn't changed is the stagnant income amount of average United States workers. According to the AP, however, CEO wages in 2010 were at the highest amount since 2007. The proof is here: CEO salaries at highest level since 2007
brinjoy said on 2009-10-01 @ 13:24 NZDT: Report abusive post
No. Absolutely disgusting,nobody needs this amount of money to live on regardless of their lifestyle. Getting in to the realms of the highly overpaid footballers in the UK.
Equipe said on 2009-08-29 @ 16:04 NZDT: Report abusive post
No. Have they compared the salary to other corporates in the UK and Australia? Seems way OTT for a non world class company.....
corun said on 2009-08-28 @ 17:55 NZDT: Report abusive post
OMG!! Absolutely ridiculous!! amount to pay one person. Just another gravy train for the rich. And to make matters worse, way wasn't the job given to a New Zealander. That amount of money could of been better spent on employing workers, instead of dishing out $5million to just man.
radar832004 said on 2009-08-26 @ 09:41 NZDT: Report abusive post
its funny how big executive's get these payouts. broadband prices in New Zealand are considered the most expensive in the developed world and yet Telecom has the nerve to make a payment like that. How big were the dividends payed out to their investors?