Pay cuts rejected; Longburn’s future hangs in balance

Press, 15 October 1986, Page 2

Pay cuts rejected; Longburn’s future hangs in balance

PA Palmerston North The future of the Longburn meat works was teetering in the balance yesterday after freezing workers rejected a management call for newseason pay cuts and longer hours. As the shock waves from the Whakatu shutdown rippled through the industry, Waitaki’s manager of Longburn, Mr Brian Cuff, said the issue at the Manawatu works was still negotiable. Mr Cuff said the new season at Longburn was not due to start until midNovember. This meant that there was still time for union and management to get together to thrash out an agreement.

Freezing workers on Monday overwhelmingly threw out company proposals calling for new manning levels, pay cuts, and higher daily tallies at the works.

The Meat Workers’ Union’s west coast (North Island) branch secretary,

Mr JKen Findlay said that Waitaki’s demands for wage cuts varied from 30 per cent to 60 per cent but averaged 40 per cent across the works. The average worker earned $ll,OOO in a sixmonth season plus $BOOO from the dole and so a 40 per cent wage cut would reduce his income to $14,500, he said. The workers will prepare their own counterclaims for discussion with the company in the next two to three weeks. The union’s president, Mr Roger Middlemass, said those would involve “significant” cost cuts. Mr Cuff said the company was prepared to look at anything put forward by the union but warned there was “little room to move.” “People have got to realise that we are in a crisis situation at Longbum,” he said. Mr Cuff said that under the ownership of Borthwick-CWS since 1977, Longburn had lost $l3 million, posting a loss

each year but one, when the works made a profit of $40,000. The Watties-owned Waitaki International group took over Longburn on March 1 this yean In the season just finished, the works lost $3.7 million and a projected loss of between $4 million and $5 million is forecast for the new season, according to Mr Cuff. He said this was what was behind the company’s move to cancel all contracts and agreements at Longburn from Monday, October 19. Mr Cuff said Longburn, which employs about 800 meat workers at the peak of the season, had a bright future “provided we can get our unit costs down.” “Obviously I am very disappointed at the outcome of the shed meeting and I find it very difficult to be optimistic right now. “But we are open for discussion on any proposal for us to become viable,” he said.