Staff’s $15 million bus buyout bonus

By Lilly O’Gorman
EMPLOYEES of south-east bus company Grenda Transit were blown away when a total of about $15 million in bonuses was delivered last week, following the company’s sale late last year.
Fifty-five-year-old bus driver Rangi Reihana has been working at Grenda for 15 years and said when he checked his bank account last Tuesday, he thought there must’ve been a mistake.
The Cranbourne North man received a $5500 bonus after tax and said he will use the money to treat his wife to a holiday to the Philippines to see her family.
“It is a marvellous company, you couldn’t get any better than Grenda’s,” he said.
“It’s a family. What Ken has achieved in 66 years … he has done a marvellous job to get the company where it is today.
“It has been a tremendous pleasure to work for Ken and his family. I wish it didn’t have to come to an end.”
Director Ken Grenda said he and his family determined a formula to ensure employees were thanked accordingly for their efforts.
“I guess we’re a Dandenong company; we started in Dandenong and because of the growth we have been lucky to grow with Dandenong and the surrounding area.
“We have expanded, bought other companies and diversified, but we’ve only been able to do that because had very good people the entire time.
“So our thinking was, they have contributed to the development of this business, it’s not all our money, part of it is theirs. The Volgren Group get their bonuses this coming Friday.”
Grenda Transit was sold to Melbourne operator Ventura late last year after operating for nearly seven decades. George Grenda started Grenda Transit in 1945 and covered bus routes in Oakleigh, Dandenong, Berwick and Cheltenham.
Volgren was established in 1977 as the manufacturing arm of Grenda and became the market leader in body assembly in Australia, with plants in Dandenong, Perth, Brisbane and Newcastle. Together they employ about 3000 people. In a fitting farewell from the City of Greater Dandenong, Mr Grenda was named Corporate Citizen of the Year during local Australia Day celebrations.
He said it was terribly sad to say goodbye.
“I have been in it for 66 years,” he said.