New Zealand’s largest bank, ANZ, has been voted the ‘worst transnational corporation’ operating in the country.
Judges of the irreverent ‘Roger Award’ said: ‘ANZ epitomizes the ugly face of modern finance, weakening the national economy... dodging tax at every opportunity... and dumping on its staff’.
ANZ clashed repeatedly with employees in 2014 over pay and conditions. CEO David Hisco enjoyed a 14-per-cent pay rise to become the highest-paid exec in New Zealand, on $2.97 million – over 120 times more than the bank’s lowest-paid workers.
Roger’s judges – a group of academics, activists and trade unionists – used criteria that included economic dominance, political interference and ‘gut feeling’ to come up with a shortlist of misbehaving firms. Other finalists for 2014 include British American Tobacco NZ, Coca-Cola Amatil, Insurance Australia Group and Rio Tinto.
Set up in 1997, the Roger Award for the Worst Transnational Corporation Operating in New Zealand is run by Campaign against Foreign Control of Aotearoa and GATT Watchdog.
