MBIE reviewing wage subsidy complaint against Northland employer

MBIE is reviewing a complaint that management of Carter Holt Harvey LVL plant allegedly failed to pass on the wage subsidy to employees. Photo / Michael Cunningham

A government ministry is reviewing a complaint that a Northland sawmill giant allegedly failed to pass on to its workers nearly $2.2 million it received in wage subsidy during lockdown.

Members of E tū union working for Carter Holt Harvey's laminated veneer lumber (LVL) plant at Marsden Pt lodged online complaints with the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment (MBIE) as well as in a letter to MPs Winston Peters and Kelvin Davis.

A union delegate also met with Davis to discuss the issue.

CHH's LVL plant received nearly $2.2m in April to cover 312 staff for 12 weeks but the union claims none of the payment was passed on to the workers.

E tū said some of its members finished work around the last week of March while others in the first week of April and returned in late April.

The company declined to comment.

In a short statement, MBIE national manager labour inspectorate Stu Lumsden said the ministry received nine complaints about Carter Holt Harvey's LVL plant, eight have been closed by providing information to the parties, one was still under review.

In a letter signed by 113 union members on May 8 to both MPs, the union claimed not only has CHH failed to pass on the wage subsidy, it has forced them to use their annual leave to cover a period from April 9 until they returned to work.

"Since receiving this subsidy on 8.4.20 CHH LVL has not changed their position. Some workers have raised a formal complaint with Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment about the lack of intended use of the subsidy and being forced to use annual leave.

"This was over three weeks ago and nothing has happened. We work very hard and do long hours here at LVL. CHH LVL has used this pandemic lockdown as an opportunity in a health emergency and economic panic, to conveniently harvest our leave entitlements by stealth.

"To add to this, they have then received a wage subsidy under false pretence in our view. They continue to decline requests from our union for a remedy.

"We want our leave reinstated and the wage subsidy paid to our employer utilised to meet that cost as was the intention of this subsidy. This will not threaten the business as CHH LVL will still have some control over the pace at which we can use our leave."

E tū claimed that since the Government helped facilitate this "rip off" by not regulating employers' behaviour better with regard to the subsidy, it should through local MPs help fix the problem.

Davis confirmed meeting an E tū delegate in his capacity as the Te Tai Tokerau MP and said his electorate staff continued to follow up issues that were raised with relevant agencies.

Peters' office did not respond to a request for comment.