Conservation Dept job cuts ‘reckless’

Press, 15 September 1988, Page 5

Conservation Dept job cuts ‘reckless’

By

RICHARD CRESSWELL

Conservation Department job cuts were reckless and absurd, said the South Island secretary of the Workers’ Union, Mr Andy McFarland, yesterday. Conservation groups and unions will hold a public forum in Christchurch on Saturday to discuss the cuts. About 164 departmental staff throughout New Zealand were expected to lose their jobs in the next week, some by the end of this week, he said. The Minister of Con-

servation, Ms Clark, the Minister of Employment, Mr Goff, and the director of the Maruia Society, Mr Guy Salmon, have been invited to attend the forum. The department was still consulting business consultants who were making a study for the department, said Mr McFarland. A petition would be presented at the meeting seeking a freeze on the impending lay-offs. If the Ministers did not attend and sent no-one on their behalf, “their credibility would be tarnished,” he said.

The forum is also being organised by the Public Sendee Association. The acting regional manager of the Conservation Department, Mr Brian Sly, said he expected many Workers’ Union and P.S.A. members to attend. There was no chance the 19 workers affected in Canterbury would get their same jobs back, he said. The department was canvassing other workers to see if they wanted to take early retirement or voluntary severance to allow redundant workers to take up new positions, Mr Sly said.