Union conference to focus on manufacturing

The crisis in the manufacturing sector will be the theme at this week's National Distribution Union (NDU) conference after 186 jobs were axed at textile company Lane Walker Rudkin (LWR) last week.

Several of the company's unprofitable sites around the country were targeted for closure or mergers after LWR was placed in receivership last month.

Changes involve 186 of the group's 470 staff being made redundant -- 102 in Christchurch, 61 in Greytown, 19 in Pahiatua and four in Auckland.

NDU, which represents the LWR workers, will hold a conference of delegates in Palmerston North over the next two days, during which the manufacturing sector will come under scrutiny.

"With manufacturing jobs being eliminated every day in the current recession, this conference gives NDU workplace delegates the chance to understand the dynamics of the recession and the current state of manufacturing in NZ," NDU president Robert Reid said.

Mr Reid said delegates would discuss the outcomes of the recent New Zealand Council of Trade Unions (NZCTU) productivity programme and look at the union response to the recession and redundancies.

"A speaker from Work and Income will address the conference on the range of initiatives for redundant workers available through that agency," Mr Reid said.

Green MP Sue Bradford, Manufacturing and Exporters Association chief executive John Walley and NZCTU policy director Bill Rosenberg would also speak at the conference.

"The goal of the conference is to come up some concrete actions that the NDU, its delegates and members can take to turn around the fortunes of the manufacturing sector and see jobs retained and created instead of the avalanche of redundancies that we are currently facing," Mr Reid said.

Business New Zealand chief executive Phil O'Reilly told NZPA manufacturing was traditionally one of the first sectors to feel the heat of recession, but also one of the first to come out of it.

That was the result of companies cutting down on supplies when dark clouds were on the horizon, and then needing to restock to take up any increases in customer demand.

However, the manufacturing sector is not alone in feeling the effects of the recession.

In a black week for workers, redundancies were also announced in Auckland, Palmerston North, Dunedin, and rural Southland last week.

In Palmerston North, 144 call centre workers were told they will be jobless by August as Yellow Group contractor TeleTech confirmed it would shift its 018 and 0172 directory service to a "global centre of excellence" in the Philippines.

Ports of Auckland confirmed 28 staff would be made redundant as a result of the reorganisation of its container terminals.

Workers at Cadbury's Dunedin plant were also given notice of 26 job cuts, while 60 workers were expected to lose jobs after Bright Wood New Zealand announced it was closing its Otautau sawmill in Southland.

Government departments appear to also be feeling the pressure, with nine Department of Conservation workers in Gisborne taking redundancy after the scrapping of the East Coast Hawke's Bay Conservancy, and up to 200 people facing redundancy at the Ministry of Social Development with the announcement of a restructure .

- NZPA