News

23 October, 2008

The closures are being blamed on overcapacity of timber due to the collapse of the international housing boom, however some workers may have the opportunity to be transferred to other Carter Holt Harvey mills.

Tokoroa-based EPMU organiser is working with Putaruru members and management to look closely at the company's proposal to see if there are any alternatives.

EPMU national secretary Andrew Little says the closure is a sign of economic downturn.

"This is a result of the economic slowdown and in particular the slowdown in the timber market but it shows how important it is for workers to have decent redundancy packages so that they have some stability and a real chance to find good work".

"After the closure of Kopu mill last May it was their negotiated redundancy provision that let our members get on with their lives and move on to other things"

NDU national secretary Laila Harre says unions will be looking carefully at this proposal and if it is confirmed workers will have ongoing union support.

"It's likely these plants will be shut in November but NDU and EPMU members have good redundancy provisions in their collective agreements and so have something to fall back on.

"During the Feltex closures we made sure union members were provided with good union support both before and after their redundancies and we will be making sure these members have the same opportunities"

The EPMU and the NDU represent nearly 8000 New Zealand timber and forestry workers between them



http://www.epmu.org.nz/epmu-news/