Winston Peters calls Fonterra vote result 'utter madness'
New Zealand First leader and Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has blasted Fonterra farmers shareholders for approving the sale of iconic brands to a French company.
For over 60 years, dairy co-operatives have been one of the biggest employers in central Hamilton. Locals may remember ‘gumboot castle’ for instance – the old NZ Dairy Group building in the CBD.
Fonterra said it was committed to retaining an office in the Waikato, but it was looking all over – not just in Hamilton.
The Hamilton Business Association desperately hopes the co-op and its 400 staff stay in town; after all, the city was built on agri-businesses like Fonterra and it’s predecessors.
But Fonterra is seeing an increase in employees opting to ‘work from home’. This means that a large site like the eight-storey building on London St is no longer fit for purpose.
