Juken Nissho voted 'worst international corporation'

Judges of the Roger Award for the worst international corporation operating in New Zealand called for a public inquiry in to the health and safety practices of the winner, wood processor Juken Nissho.

They also want the inquiry to cover the health impacts of emissions from the company's Kataia plant, one of the judges, Dunedin Mayor Sukhi Turner, said when announcing the winners of the seventh annual awards in Dunedin last night.

The judges were staggered by the company's safety record, which they said read like a "war casualty list".

Fumes from the Kaitaia plant had led to neighbours frequently complaining of eye, nose, skin and respiratory tract irritations, Mrs Turner said.

Second place in the awards went to British American Tobacco, which the judges said peddled an addictive, destructive product while trying to appear community-minded.

Third place went to Carter Holt Harvey, a past Roger Award winner, for displaying an arrogant and Victorian attitude to the treatment of workers at its Kinleith plant, Mrs Turner said.

The judges also bestowed a special award for "monopoly profiteering" on Telecom. They said the telecommunications company charged outrageous amounts for competitors to interconnect, exorbitant rates to rural customers and kept increasing charges.

Mrs Turner said that while she had been accused of being anti-business, the aim of the awards was to highlight practices which other business people would surely not condone either.

Businesses, like any other type of organisation, had to be accountable and should not be a "no go area", she said.

The other judges were University of Auckland emeritus professor Dr Ranginui Walker, Quality Public Education Coalition national chairman John Minto, Wellington documentary maker Alister Barry and Christian World Service national director Jill Hawkey.

- NZPA