Further dismissals from downturn

Press, 13 December 1982, Page 11

Further dismissals from downturn

PA Masterton A whiteware manufacturer, Atlas Corporation, Ltd, will dismiss five of its 33 workers as a result of a 30 per cent fall-off in sales,

according to the manager, Mr J. D. Brewster. The company, formerly Atlas Majestic, which once employed about 600 people, is cutting production and has issued dismissal notices to five employees. The redundancies will take effect on December 23. Atlas earlier missed a hoped-for Government contract to supply push-button telephones. The company makes commercial diswashing and waste disposal machines, glass washers, and domestic dishwashers. Mr Brewster said that the decision to reduce staff came after a rapid fall in sales over the last three to four months. Stocks had built up. and the company decided to lay off process workers and have a reduced output. “We hope we will be able to stabilise a 30 per cent reduction, and hold that this year, and next year,’’ he said. In Wellington, Chloride Batteries dismissed 11 workers at the Seaview plant on Tuesday afternoon. ; Confirming the lay-offs yesterday, a spokesman for the company said that Chloride Batteries, like,the rest of the car components industry, was feeling the effects of the severe motor industry downturn. The plant employed about 120 workers up to tne dismissals. ' ■■■