Chch firm will lay off 98 workers

Press, 2 November 1983, Page 1

Chch firm will lay off 98 workers

Ninety-eight workers at the Christchurch heavy engineering company of Andersons Engineering, Ltd, in Christchurch will be made redundant, the company announced yesterday. The company’s manager, Mr B. Phillips, said that the lay-offs were necessary because the company had to scale its operations to a level consistent with present demand. “Demand for work outside the major projects is low and reflects the lack of short-term and mediumterm investment in New Zealand. The supply phase for the present projects is virtually complete and the company must now ensure that it remains competitive for its domestic and international work,” he said. His announcement said that both salaried and production staff would receive redundancy notices. However, Mr Phillips could not be reached for comment on

when the notices would - be issued and when they would come into effect. He said that the appropriate trade unions had been notified and that the company would work with the Labour Department to help the workers find new jobs. Andersons Engineering, one of three major heavy engineering companies in Christchurch, said late last year that its outlook was bleak. In an interview with “The Press,” the general manager, Mr Terry Arthurs, said that the company had enough work for about nine months, but its intake of new orders was low. At that time it had a staff of more than 320. The company, which is a subsidiary of Ceramco, won several contracts from the “think big” projects. Since 1980 it has employed 150 extra people to cope with the work for the projects. Last year it had a $6 million contract for the fabrication of structural steel and for the manufacture of pipe supports for the Marsden Point expansion project, and a $1 million order for pressure vessels for the refinery. It also completed an $8 million contract to supply cathode shells and cradles for the third potline at Tiwai Point. When Andersons completed its contracts for the “think big” projects, it faced a dearth of structural steel work from the middle of this year. : It' was also hit last when the Government ended taxation incentives for the reElacement of coal-fired urners for oil-fired burners, and by the lack of

investment confidence. Mr Arthurs said the company did specialist work for the Railways Corporation and this would not be helped by the Government’s moves to increase the corporation’s competition. Besides paying a $5 million wage bill each year, the company put out ?4 million worth of sub-con-tracting work in the first half of the last financial year. Mr Phillips said yesterday that the company would retain skilled staff for the future and that included more staff than was needed at the moment. Andersons was anxious to preserve the expertise needed to service the areas in which it was an industry leader. “The company is well placed to take advantage of the market situation and future projects. Further efforts are being made to exploit offshore opportunities,” he said. Andersons had been a traditional exporter of boilers to Australia, Asia, and the Pacific. The secretary of the Canterbury branch of the Engineers’ Union, Mr R. J. Todd, said last evening that he knew no details of the redundancies. He believed a “fair few” Engineers’ Union members would be affected. The union would want to have discussions with Andersons immediately to find out why the redundancies were needed and to see if they could be minimised or averted “even if that means an approach to the Government.” Representatives of other unions could not be reached last evening.