Board can cover pay-outs

Press, 24 September 1988, Page 9

Board can cover pay-outs

By

TOM METCALFE

The Lyttelton Harbour Board can meet voluntary severance and redundancy payments for the 54 of its workers who are to lose their jobs, says the board’s general manager. Mr lan Brokenshire said the full amount of the payments had not been discussed by the board in open meeting and he was not prepared to release the figures at this stage. But he confirmed that the board had the finances to meet the payment and that no loan to cover the amount had been raised, although the board had approval from the Ministry of Transport to raise a loan for that purpose if

required. He would not say whether or not the loan would be required. Mr Brokenshire said some of the workers had already accepted voluntary severance or been made redundant, but most would leave the Harbour Board when the port company took over the port on October 1. Forty-four harbour workers have accepted voluntary severance under an agreement negotiated by the board and the Harbour Workers Union. Ten nonunion salaried staff will have left the board by October 1, some by accepting a similar voluntary severance and some through redundancy.