Jobs at stake in mill merger talks

Press, 7 November 1978, Page 2

Jobs at stake in mill merger talks

Industrial reporter The jobs of 104 West Coast timber workers are in Jeopardy, after the announcement by Fletcher Industries on Frida” that it will close the Ruatapu mil! unless a merger is arranged by November 30. The South Island manager of Fletcher's (Mr B. Waterfield) said that another West Coast forestry concern was interested in merging with the Fletcher mill at Ruatapu. He declined to name the other company. The announcement came after widespread rumours that the mill would close, after a Government decision to reduce the company's timber allocation by twothirds from September next' year. The public relations manager for Fletcher's (Mr G. J. Peart) said that the company expected a decision on the possible merger by Novem-. ber 30. and would tell the staff on or before that date whether the mill would have to close.

The talks were not far I enough advanced to be more' than hopeful of the outcome, h,. said. The secretary of the Westland Timber Workers’ Union (Mr R. F. Beadle) said that the announcement took a lot : of the heat and uneasiness ■■ away from the workers. Mr Beadle said recently that the union wrould not sit idly by while so many lost their jobs. A former Fletcher Company manager, Mr J. P. T, Molloy, said yesterday that if the Forest Service were to sti n ulate that West Coast mills have their timber processed by the Ruatapu mill instead of getting it processed in Canterbury- and other areas, the Ruatapu mill would have a greater work output than ever before. Mr Molloy, who managed the Ross mill until it was closed about 1972. said that .a processing requirement could be stipulated in tender, requirements to the four main mills on the Coast. ; This would involve mainly

the Pukekura mill owned by; I the Colonial Investment and Sawmilling Company south of Ross, and Houston’s mill at Hari Hari. Two other i sawmillers, both near Hokitika, get most of their timber from private forests. Mr Molloy also said that ■ the two-thirds reduction in ; supply of native timber to ■ Ruatapu from 60,000 cubic metres a year to 20,000 cu. metres was not as bad as it • sounded for the company. This was because the mill now had a daily output of i 72 cu. metres of sawn timber. With a 50 per cent re- • covert' rate this would mean I a requirement of 35,000 cu. - metres a year, which was■ 1 only 15.000 metres above the, i Government’s new alloca-l ■ tion, said Mr Molloy. Another mill on . the West Coast was apparently still I viable using 21,000 cu. : metres of logs a year, he . said. Most of the Ruatapu; I workers are married men, some living at Ruatapu village, and others at Ross, Kaniere, and Hokitika.