Imports force firm’s closing

Press, 26 July 1989, Page 4

Imports force firm’s closing

By

NEIL CLARKSON

Twenty full-time jobs will be lost with the closing of a Christchurch-based firm’s telephone cord manufacturing business.

Six part-time positions would also be lost in the closing, which was announced yesterday by the general manager of MM Cables New Zealand, Mr Bill Logan. Mr Logan said that the closing of the cord manufacturing plant at the company’s Hornby site was because of an inability to compete with cheaper imports in a declining market.

Six of the affected workers would be able to take up jobs in other areas of the company’s Christchurch operations, he said.

A job search and counselling programme for redundant employees would be set up and a redundancy agreement negotiated with the Engineers’ Union.

The closing of the cord plant had nothing to do with the amalgamation last month of Associated British Cables, Ltd, Austral Standard Cables, Ltd, and Aluminium Conductors, Ltd, to form MM Cables New Zealand.

Mr Logan said the cord plant had been supplying two companies in New Zealand which made telephones for Telecom.

The division had fulfilled big orders while Telecom was updating New Zealand telephones. This task had largely been completed and the demand had fallen.

This was compounded by increased overseas competition with the drop in tariffs on imported telephones and cords. Mr Logan said the price of the company’s cord

sets had dropped about 50 per cent since 1987. The two telephone manufacturers had chosen to buy the locally made cords until about two months ago, he said. They could now be bought overseas at a price less than the direct cost to MM Cables New Zealand for labour and materials. The Hornby and Riccarton district organiser for the Engineers’ Union, Mr John Logue, said the losses were part of “an ongoing saga” faced by its membership as manufacturing suffered a decline. “It’s the imports that are the major problem.

“Workers had made tremendous gains in productivity in the last year or so but it hasn’t been enough to stave if off.”