Pay unfair, Scott workers claim

A Scott worker says he and other "shop floor" staff are being treated unfairly, receiving less than half their normal wage after two weeks without pay.

Scott said last week it had applied for the wage subsidy scheme and had told staff to use annual leave to be paid during the lockdown.

Workers spoken to by the Otago Daily Times said Scott shuts down over Christmas and most workers’ annual leave is used — meaning many workers had no means of being paid during the lockdown.

A worker from the Christchurch office said he and about 25 other staff who worked in the machine shop, the fitting department and the fabrication department there all received heavily reduced pay packets on Wednesday.

"Yesterday we got the first payment for the first week which was less than 50% of our normal wage because the company are refusing to stump up anything else apart from the [wage] subsidy."

He said he was paid $469 for the first week, which was not enough to get by on for a lot of staff.

"A lot of those guys are recently married, got mortgages and they’re really struggling.

"For two weeks of no pay whatsoever ... the salaried staff [paid monthly] had just been paid so they’ve got something to look forward to for the next month but we were just left with nothing straight away for two weeks."

The worker wanted to see Scott’s management take a greater pay cut and it was his understanding the company had been very profitable and so should have money to continue paying staff to at least 80% of their normal wage.

"The directors and the CEO ... he was on a million dollars-plus a year. We would like to see a bit of fairness here and let’s be seeing them come out and put something back in the coffers for the likes of us."

He said there was no indication they would get up to the 80% — nor any explanation why the company could not make that up.

The Government is asking companies to try to get staff wages to 80% "where reasonably possible".

Etu union organiser Mike Kirwood said Scott had received millions in funding from the Government for research and development and needed to pay its staff fairly.

"The Government is asking companies who are able to top up to a minimum of 80% — our members say they are able."

He said the union was considering taking action in the shape of a wage arrears claim if the company would not pay staff more.

Scott chief executive John Kippenberger said the company was doing what it had to to survive the economic shock from Covid-19.

"Those people are doing zero hours and we are passing on the full wage subsidy in line with the Government expectation."

Scott employed about 800 people around the world and most were doing no work at the moment, Mr Kippenberger said.

"If we took that position so that we were going to pay all 800 people ... you can imagine the financial pressure that would put Scott under.

"Our commitment is to our shareholders and our employees and other stakeholders to get through this huge disruption period from Covid-19 but also the ensuing economic crisis, which is obviously a part of this now — and get through that in a way that then allows us to preserve jobs and continue growing the company well into the future.

"That is a responsibility that we take very, very seriously and myself, the executive team and the board is absolutely committing to fulfilling that responsibility."