Watercare is a very big company, it has a big impact on Auckland and New Zealand so I don t know why they didn t advocate a lot harder to get them in, Northern Amalgamated Workers Union secretary Maurice Davis says. If the Wiggles can get in, why can t these TBM operators get in.
Davis says with one council project competing with another, it s a bidding war for staff and there are big offers. It s rumours [how much more they re offering to pay], but it s something between $20,000 to $100,000.
But he says that is small change compared to the cost of the machine, which is worth tens of millions of dollars, sitting there without the workers to get it started.