Covid 19 coronavirus: Fletcher pay cut talks nearing completion

Fletcher Building chief executive Ross Taylor.

By RNZ

Fletcher Building says it hopes to wrap up consultations with staff on planned pay cuts by the end of the week.

The company wants to put about 9000 staff not working on gradually reducing pay over the next three months.

It's proposing they get 80 per cent of base pay for the next four weeks, reducing to 50 per cent for the next month, and 30 per cent the month after.

Fletcher Building chief executive Ross Taylor.

Fletcher chief executive Ross Taylor said it had to act quickly because wages made up about two-thirds of its costs.

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Taylor said the company was taking up the government wage subsidies and no one would be paid less than $585 a week at any stage.

• Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website

He says during the lockdown there will be no forced redundancies, but cannot guarantee there will not be as the business gets back into operation after the crisis.