Jobs go on eve of butter quota cuts

Press, 6 March 1989, Page 3

Jobs go on eve of butter quota cuts

By

TONY VERDON

in London

Thirty-eight workers at Anchor Food’s Swindon butter packing plant have been made redundant because New Zealand’s European butter quota is about to be cut. The Council of Agriculture Ministers will discuss New Zealand’s butter and sheepmeat quota during a meeting in Brussels next week.

It is expected the council will agree to a European commission proposal to cut the New Zealand butter quota from the present 74,500 tonnes to 55,000 tonnes over the next four years. On the eve of the meeting, the New Zealand Dairy Board’s British subsidiary, Anchor Foods, said it had no option but to make the redundancies at the Swindon plant. The managing director, Mr Monny Verschueren, said, “We just can’t lose one quarter of our mainstream business and maintain present staff numbers.” The redundancies were being taken to secure the future viability of the plant, and the jobs of the 350 people who would continue working in Swindon.

“The butter market is in decline and hence highly competitive,” said Mr Verschueren.

"We cannot go on being a major participant without reducing our manning levels.” Anchor Foods had already taken steps to minimise the number of redundancies by freezing external recruitment, reducing employment of temporary labour, and by having tighter control on overtime.

A spokeswoman for Anchor Foods denied the suggestion that the move indicated the board had resigned itself to a big cut in the butter quota. But she said the European Commission’s proposal had been known for some time, and historically New Zealand had never achieved a better outcome than that proposed by the commission. Although the European Commission proposal has been attacked by .some European farm groups as being too generous towards New Zealand, final

approval is now considered likely this month.

The deal, covering both butter and sheepmeat exports to Europe, was thrashed out last year between the Minister of External Relations and Trade, Mr Moore, and the then Agriculture Commissioner, Mr Frans Andriessen.

The present quota of 74,500 tonnes was due to expire at the end of last year, but the Council of Agriculture Ministers failed to reach agreement on it during meetings in November. Instead, the Agriculture Ministers allowed the present quota to continue until the end of this month.

While it is possible the Agriculture Ministers could agree to vet a further roll-over, most observers believe a final decision on the issue is likely this month. The Anchor Foods spokeswoman said the company would try to help redundant employees in their search for alternative work.

She said the company had not been involved in making such redundancies before. Previous cuts in the New Zealand butter quota had been dealt with through natural attrition and other means. Anchor Foods had no plans at this point to reduce its substantial contribution to butter promotion in Britain, through the Butter Information Council.

Anchor Foods has already started diversifying its products, because of the threat to its main product, butter. Its most successful diversified product on the British market has been UHT whipped-cream, sold in a can. The company has introduced a half-fat butter and herb butter, while it also uses spare plant capacity at Swindon to package a variety of products, including margarine. i The Dairy Board has said that no matter what happens in the future to the New Zealand butter quota, Anchor Foods would continue in Britain.

Anchor butter is Britain’s best-celling butter brand. .y.