While Lyttleton Port chief executive Peter Davie says he’s comfortable with his performance and his near $200,000 pay rise due to incentives, more voices have joined the public outcry over this amount given the port’s poor safety record with the death of three workers last year.
A Christchurch councillor is not happy about the way the chief executive’s remuneration package was set by a consultant, while another independent management consultant has called for Davie to be sacked over the deaths.
Last November 58-year-old Bill Frost was killed after being crushed between a forklift and a logging trailer, a month later 49-year-old Warren Ritchie was killed after being hit in the chest with machinery, and in August 40-year-old Brad Fletcher was killed when a scissor lift he was operating toppled over.
Management consultant Lance Wiggs told the National Business Review that Davie’s should be sacked rather than getting a pay increase.
Wiggs had called for immediate change after the second and third death of the port workers.
“It is absolutely reprehensible. It’s clear he should not get a bonus, because the company has not met the requirement that it is operating without harm.
“The blame should be placed on the board for not dealing properly with a concerning situation,” says Wiggs.
“The shareholders now need to step in and take control. The board needs to be churned, and a new CEO should be put in,” Wiggs told NBR.
“Something needs to happen to increase safety but this pay situation is just making it worse. The company has stepped away from its traditional values.”
Christchurch council finance and strategy committee deputy chairman Raf Manji did not directly comment on Davie’s 18% salary rise, but he told The Press that once council takes full control of the port at the end of October – it could then instruct it’s appointed directors.
The council’s investment arm, Christchurch City Holdings, has bought out the other shareholders and the port company will now be de-listed from the NZ stock exchange, and become a council controlled organisation.
The board of Lyttelton Port company used consultant Strategic Pay to review the pay of Davie and other executives, resulting in pay rises for them. Davie’s base salary rose 12.5% to $569,000.
The port’s annual report revealed that Davie’s salary rose nearly $200,000 to $1.24 million in the last year, and more than half of that was was made up of incentive payments.
Councillor Manji says he was no fan of using consultants for setting pay.
“Boards should have the ability to come to an appropriate agreement with their employees without reference to outside consultants,” he says.
