LWR silent on redundancy numbers

The receivers of century-old Christchurch clothing manufacturer Lane Walker Rudkin Industries have clammed up 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 this morning that all 87 remaining staff at the Christchurch factory 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 put out 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.

"This division has a well-established customer base and is in a strong position to move forward with its current product lines."

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

LWR redundancy support coordinator Jack Taylor said he was expecting 50 to 60 employees to be laid off on June 22 but the receivers would not give numbers today when they announced layoffs to workers at the Christchurch factory.

If the staff who cut and sewed the garments were being laid off, Taylor said 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 at LWR would continue to trade and to supply customers with full product.

Either the receivers were keeping some people in manufacturing or they were getting product from somewhere else.