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The Government is being urged by Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia to step in to save more timber mills from closure.
"If the Government can save jobs in Air New Zealand, bail out the Bank of New Zealand, buy back the rail and guarantee investments in finance companies and banks, why can't they help to save...the Carter Holt mill in Putaruru?" she said today.
She was commenting after yesterday's announcement by Carter Holt Harvey (CHH) to shut down mills at Putararu and Maunganui with the loss of more than 300 jobs.
The news comes hard on the heels of last month's loss of 22 jobs at the Kinleith Planer Mill in Tokoroa and the closure of Coromandel's Kopu Mill with the loss of 145 jobs in May.
Mrs Turia said the Government should look at options for helping the sawmills to avoid job losses.
She said the situation in Putaruru gave the Government a great opportunity to show its commitment to workers.
"Closing mills is not a good option, but sharing ownership of a mill between central government, local government and the workers would be something worthy of consideration," Mrs Turia said.
Timber Federation director Wayne Coffey also called on the Government to effectively bail out the timber industry, as it had done for banks, airlines, and railroads.
He said the economic slowdown was clearly responsible for the closures.
"House permits are down 50 per cent on last year so domestic (timber) sales are obviously starting to droop."
Latest figures, for the June quarter, showed that they were down a "huge" 27 per cent, he said.
Production for the same quarter was down 17 per cent on last year, one of the biggest drops in production on record.
"So it's no surprise that you are going to see some timber operations closing."
South Waikato major Neil Sinclair said the closure at Putaruru was a "real kick in the guts".
The mill had been the town's lifeblood since 1903.
"Now we have a small town suffering pretty heavy pain because of an economic downturn somewhere else that's got nothing to do with them.
"We are now, as a council, going to have to face the challenge and try to give these people hope and find them jobs, and it's going to be terribly, terribly difficult."
Many of the workers had been at the Putaruru plant all their working lives and had limited job options, Mr Sinclair said.
They were shocked by the news, as many believed the mill would survive the downturn.
One worker said CHH had closed the mill in haste, not giving it a chance to trade its way out of the situation.
Tauranga mayor Stuart Crosby blamed the slow down of residential building on the closure of the Mt Maunganui mill.
"I would see no reason why a company would want to close something that was still deemed successful, so they (CHH) must have good reason to do it."
Mr Sinclair also wanted help to ensure workers were not left out in the cold.
- NZPA
