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Download AudioA former trade unionist who called for the resignation of Ports of Auckland bosses says now both men have gone a smell lingers.
Port company chair Bill Osborne stepped down last week after just seven months in the position and just before the release of annual accounts indicating chief executive Tony Gibson’s departure came with a $1.7 million golden handshake.
Shane Te Pou says it’s an extraordinary decision for the board to make when the citizens of Auckland were demanding accountability and transparency over the deaths of port workers and a failed automation project.
“I don’t know of any contract that would pay you out two times your annual salary, particularly when you’ve failed on every count – you’ve failed to keep people safe, you’ve failed in terms of the economic return to the ratepayers and you’ve failed in terms of his responsibility to upgrade Ports of Auckland, so there’s a whole lot of looking after each other and it smells really bad,” he says.
Mr Te Pou says the remaining board members need to release the details of the pay-out and explain the decision.
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