Fonterra job cuts spectre in Pahiatua

Fonterra managing director of people, culture and strategy, Maury Leyland, was unable to confirm if any jobs will be cut at the company plant in Pahiatua. FILE PHOTO

Fonterra has refused to confirm if any of the recently announced job cuts will come from its Pahiatua site.

The company said this week that the number of jobs to go as a result of a business review had risen to 750 from a previously announced 523.

Fonterra's managing director of people, culture and strategy, Maury Leyland, said they were unable to confirm if any of those jobs were based in Pahiatua.

"We do not break down our staff numbers by site or region. The 750 roles announced are from our global workforce. Roughly half of these roles will come from our offshore teams."

She said most disestablished roles in New Zealand would come from the Hamilton and Auckland offices. Fonterra has 22,000 staff globally, of whom 12,000 are based in New Zealand.

Speaking to Radio New Zealand on Tuesday, Ms Leyland said many of those being made redundant were senior managers and that no processing staff would be losing their jobs.

Fonterra said in July that it was axing 523 jobs, for an estimated cost savings of $55 million-$60 million, as part of a major overhaul of its business.

After this week's announcement, the estimated cost savings will rise to $103 million.

Fonterra's new $230 million high-efficiency milk powder plant at Mangamutu, on the outskirts of Pahiatua, began processing milk in August.

The site processes 1.4 million litres of milk each day from farms across northern Hawke's Bay to southern Wairarapa and Wellington.