Tears flow as Manaia bakery cuts hit

BY KELLY LONEY

Emotions ran high on what was described as a "sad, sad day" at Yarrows The Bakers in Manaia after 28 jobs were axed.

"I packed my lunch to come to work today and now I'm going home to say to my daughter I'm without a job tomorrow."

With tears in his eyes, bakery production assistant Ali Butt said he'd be praying to God that he'd get another job and be able to pay his family's bills.

Last month Mr Butt took on a mortgage to buy a home in Hawera with his wife, who looks after his two children.

"When you have a job, you are confident and can pay the bills and don't get into debt and now I'm not so sure. There's not many steady jobs around before Christmas."

From the meeting where job losses were confirmed, the 28 affected staff left the Yarrows factory to not return.

They were sent home on a paid month's leave and any redundancy pay-outs if they had worked at Yarrows for longer than a year.

People had gathered outside the building to support the workers affected and Mr Butt's words echoed throughout the group.

Some cried and some hugged, while others were too stunned for words.

Those willing to talk summed up the news as "disheartening", "gutting" and "just quiet".

"It's pretty grim," said EMPU lead organiser Wayne Ruscoe. "It's never a nice thing jobs going, there's simply no nice way to do this. There'll be $1m a year in wages sucked out of the local economy."

The final announcement comes after months of "feelings of fear and uncertainty" for their jobs among staff who knew production of frozen dough products was down.

Rumours had been rife for six months and yesterday they were just as strong about more job losses in Manaia in the near future.

After the meeting management tried to give reassurance that the Manaia plant would continue to be the heart of Yarrows, but they would not give any certainties or timeframes.

Bakers Union delegate Ian Turner said word on the floor was management had looked in the wrong places when cost cutting.

He said he spoke for the majority of workers in thinking management had been wasteful since Noel Yarrow left and this feedback had been given during the review.

"If they'd approached us earlier and did something about their own excesses first, people would be more tolerant and workers' jobs could have been saved."

However CEO Colin Pettigrew said there would be a restructure across Yarrows at Manaia, Sydney, Perth and Rotorua, including administration staff.

He said management had delayed laying offs for as long as possible but the factory had been carrying excess staff for the last six months on the premise more contracts were coming.

The New Zealand dollar has made Yarrows' products 30 percent more expensive to its markets compared to this time last year and although it had added new markets during the past 18 months, they weren't enough to keep on the 28 staff.

Paul Yarrow had been working hard the past few months to drum up new export business, Mr Pettigrew said.

"This is not an ivory tower, this is a lean family run operation. We have 500 staff across the company."

He said the typical staff turnover of about 40 people a year had not happened this year, which he put down to the effect of the global economic recession on the job market.

"This situation, coupled with the requirement to transfer production to our Sydney facility in order to meet contractual obligations with customers, has meant that we have no alternative but to restructure staff to a more sustainable level, so we have made the difficult decision to make some roles redundant."

He said production staff levels were higher today than in the past with 260 now compared with 212 in 2007.

"We know this is no consolation to those losing their jobs. However, it's vital we act as a responsible employer and that means taking steps to ensure the sustainability of our business for all our stakeholders, including the communities of South Taranaki."

Staff had been offered positions in the Sydney and Perth factories with a relocation package available, but so far no one had taken up the offer.

A workshop for affected employees will be held with agencies and potential employers on Monday.

- © Fairfax NZ News