No light shed on LWR job losses

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The receivers of Christchurch clothing manufacturers Lane Walker Rudkin Industries are keeping quiet on the number of workers being made redundant at the Christchurch factory.

They will not comment on how many are being laid off while the National Distribution Union is backtracking on what it reported yesterday that all 87 remaining staff were being laid off just before Christmas.

It appears the factory will not close completely and some sales and administration staff will remain.

But the receivers are not shedding any light. Their public relations agents issued a statement saying: "The LWR hosiery and underwear division of Lane Walker Rudkin will continue to trade in the marketplace, continuing to supply customers with full product lines."

The statement said the manufacturing operation of LWR, comprising cutting and sewing of garments, would close on December 22 2009. All current orders would be completed and despatched to customers.

LWR redundancy support co-ordinator Jack Taylor said if the staff who cut and sewed the garments were being laid off, there was no manufacturing operation left in Christchurch.

So he was not sure what the receivers meant when they said the hosiery and underwear division would continue to trade. Either the receivers were keeping some people in manufacturing or they were getting product from elsewhere.