Overseeing of industrial closings recommended

Press, 25 November 1982, Page 13

Overseeing of industrial closings recommended

P/X Auckland A comprehensive system for overseeing large industrial closings has been recommended by the authors of a study on the effects of the Southdown freezing works shutdown. Among the proposals by Martyn Nicholls and Diane Piesse, of the Auckland Regional Authority planning division, are: ® The establishment of an industrial closing advisory unit. • A compulsory three-month warning of big’ shutdowns. ® A national redundancy policy and fund. ® Changes to dole eligibility. The advisory unit, it was suggested, would investigate the economic and social implications of closings and redundancy. Where a shutdown would leave 50 or more workers without jobs, the unit would set up a task force to look for ways of keeping the plant open. If the closing was considered unavoidable, the unit task force would plan its running down and the im-

mediate steps to be taken by the employees. The researchers suggest the task force be made up of representatives of Government departments, employers,, unions, social , agencies, and the local member of Parliament. Companies with 50 or more employees would be required to give three months notice of closing under rules proposed in the report. This would give the unit time to set up a task force and give Government agencies time, to prepare for the needs of those laid off. Another recommendation is the creation of an employment protection fund to guarantee redundancy payouts. The costs could be met by the Government, a levy on company profits, or a combination of both. A national redundancy policy would include the warning provisions and standard redundancy, payments. The report' says, redundant workers are left confused about their eligibility for redundancy payouts, and the categories and amounts of the payments. Unemployment benefit rules should also be changed, the report says. It recommends that full-time workers who become unemployed be

paid the dole from the end of the first week of their unemployment. Many Southdown workers had to wait five or six weeks for the benefit after losing their jobs. The report also said that the Southdown freezing works closing did not have the disastrous impact many predicted. The shutdown, first in late 1980 and finally in April last year, had had little. effect on the national economy, it said. It estimated that the direct result in Auckland had been a $23.8 million drop in

spending in the region. But few of the 390 businesses surveyed in South Auckland found that the closing had been responsible for a downturn in trade. The report said the closing had meant a transfer of resources. Almost all stock formerly killed at Southdown had been diverted to Auckland Farmers Freezing Company works outside Auckland. The report said closing Southdown has left A.F.F.C.O in a much stronger financial position.