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In the latest blow to New Zealand workers, fishing company Sealord is considering cutting more than 300 jobs at its Nelson mussel factory, it was announced today.
Workers at the factory were told total staff numbers at the Beatty Street site would be reduced from 380 to 57, under a proposal to cease production of half shell mussels.
The company said producing half shell mussels was not competitive and it wanted to focus on producing high quality mussels without shells.
If the change goes ahead, 60 permanent and 90 temporary positions at the company's fish processing plant, also in Nelson, would be made available to affected workers.
That would still leave a shortfall of 173 jobs.
Sealord chief executive Graham Stuart said a consultation process began today and was expected to take several weeks.
The plant had been making losses for some time, he said.
The added value of half shell mussels was not justified by the cost of producing them.
He said the company had done extensive research into the market for mussels without shells and believed there were strong markets in Asia and Europe for the company to grow.
It had been a "shitty day" and staff had been stunned by the news, he said.
"The reaction was muted. They just weren't expecting it," Mr Stuart said.
The staff had been given the next two shifts off and would return to work on Tuesday night, when he expected a bit more of a response.
He said the company was "open minded" going into consultation.
"But we wouldn't drop a bombshell like this on our staff without doing our homework," he said.
"We are open minded but we think we've talked over all the options.
"We think the proposal is robust."
Mr Stuart said he thought consultation would take about three weeks.
He said the company would do everything it could to help staff through the proposed change.
- NZPA
