Politicians get dildos to the face when Kiwis aren’t happy but heads of mutinational companies get a fist.
NZ Farming has just posted on its Facebook page the news that Theo Spierings, boss of Fonterra, hast been punched in the face at Dargaville Field Days.
NZ Farming followers have been quick to gave their thoughts on the alleged incident, which has since been denied:
Whatever the truth of the matter, there is obviously a strength of feeling here that cannot be ignored.
Three days ago companies that supply Fonterra railed against what they said were crippling payment demands to the beleaguered company. Fonterra introduced a new deadline for payments to its suppliers, extending it from 30 to 90 days, and also asked them to cut their charges. Suppliers hit back, warning of a backlash in the provinces.
Fonterra’s management were recently criticsed for paying excessively high salaries to its management team, while its farmers struggled to cope on dwindling milk payouts.
Fonterra’s 2015 financial report shows the top earner, chief executive Theo Spierings, had a salary band within $4.9 million. This represented a $770,000 increase on his 2014 remuneration package.
But in September last year, on the same day Fonterra announced 230 jobs were being cut, Spierings told staff he would not take the increase.
The freeze would apply only to his base salary and he would still be eligible for short and long-term “incentive” payments.
The financial statements also show the number of Fonterra employees who were paid a salary of more than $1m in the year to July 31 rose to 22 from 17 in the previous year. source
E2NZ.org 
Unfortunate that the dairy farmers work very hard for a relatively average income while Fonterra ,an international company pays its employees fortunes ,yep ,try it ,get out of bed every day at 4.30 am ,go clean clean and clean again ,milk the cows get cow shit all over you ,figure out grazing and feeding regimes ,fill in amazing amounts of paperwork For herd health, pay your farm mortgage while the funking secretary at Fonterra earns more than you do .sounds fair ?
Same old formula – beg, borrow, steal and if nothing else then violence!
It’s no surprise that the National’s stalwart supporters (farmers) are using tactics of thuggery against those they don’t like. Where’s the neoliberal dream working for you farmers now, you’ve been betrayed for your greed, you deserve it. Bill English taught you a lesson, didn’t you know bailing you out isn’t free market capitalism?
I read the the other day that Nicky Hager got his computer back from the Police smashed to pieces. A very balanced investigation, i think not. Sounds like the sort of intimidation being attributed to Putin at the moment, except this is New Zealand and John key.
Many Dairy farms are valued by the number of Fonterra shares which come along with them not just the value of the land ,this is obviously absolute bullshit and probably looked good when milk solids retained high prices ……I guess nobody saw this coming,yes the farmers and Fonterra all knew this was coming as did many market analysts and share brokers but our milk powder Republic kept paddling the canoe right over the waterfall .
Easy to create a monopoly and manipulate people and markets in a country the size of a small city .
Actually they are more responsible than many would think ,farmers share values are not only devalued by low milk solid prices but also the companies expenditure ,their salaries are ridiculously excessive in my opinion.
Well, I can understand the farmers’ anger, although Fonterra’s management is not responsible for low milk prices, they’re certainly responsible for their excessive salaries. It’s a remarkably insensitive attitude, but unfortunately it’s widespread these days and definitely not confined to NZ.
30 years ago I worked for a dairy co-op here in Australia, it was a genuine co-op and the ethos was more of less that of mutual benefit for the members, until the management decided to become ‘entrepreneurial’.