Kinleith mill to cut staff by a third

Press, 24 February 1987, Page 1

Kinleith mill to cut staff by a third

Special correspondent The south Waikato town of Tokoroa put on a brave face yesterday after confirmation that its biggest employer will cut its workforce one-third. The announcement, made by the managing director of N.Z. Forest Products, Mr Warren Hunt, came after discussions with the Mayor of Tokoroa, Mr Jim Elder.

In a statement released yesterday, Mr Hunt confirmed that 1120 staff would lose their jobs. A similar package was announced by the company last April in a bid to trim its workforce to 3320 by the end of next month. The latest moves will bring the workforce at the giant Kinleith mill down to 2200. Most cuts are likely to be in the pulp, paper and sawmilling areas, although the staff cuts will be across the board.

Mr Hunt said most jobs would be phased out over the next three years. The advocate for the unions on the site, Mr Alan Ware, said yesterday the announcement merely confirmed statements made last year. He said the unions re-

garded the statement as an insult. The workers and the Tokoroa' residents deserved far more concrete and specific statements about the company’s intentions for the future. The site committee and the Tokoroa Trades Council planned to organise a delegation with representatives of local residents, business people, farmers, school committees and local bodies to ask N.Z. Forest Products for more information, Mr Ware said.

Axing another 1120 jobs at Kinleith made the plight of redundant Forest Service workers even more grim, the Opposition said yesterday. There was now no point in redundant Forest Service workers driving to Tokoroa looking for jobs because they would meet Tokoroa workers driving the other way, said National’s spokesman on forestry, Mr lan McLean. "The tragedy is that forestry could be a growing industry, but under this Government’s nar-row-minded approach it is simply not economic for trees to be planted,” he said.