Gutted redundant staff leave

ROBERT CHARLES

LAST ON, FIRST OFF: Muri Haddon, Matthew Kurth and Anthony Bowman's employment at Yarrows The Bakers' Manaia factory ended when the company announced 28 redundancies.

Manaia's Christmas lights went up as the curtain came down on 28 jobs at the Yarrows factory there yesterday.

With so much else happening in the usually quiet town few seemed to notice the two men in overalls patiently putting up the ragged green Christmas trees and uneven blue stars.

Nor is it likely they noticed the chill in the air as the sacked workers filed out of their factory for the last time, or the four German backpackers showing little concern at being caught right in the middle of the emotional scene.

"Yeah this is happening in our country too," one says before asking about Dawson Falls. "How far from the car park to walk there?"

Bakers assistant Muri Haddon, a Manaia local, would know.

Her job at the factory came to an end yesterday, one year after her promise she would never leave.

"I loved it. It was so good," she says between heavy puffs of her rolled cigarette. "The woman asked me why they should hire me and I said because I would stay. I would be here until I was old and grey and tired.

"What can I say. It feels gutting. I couldn't wait to start working for this stupid company last year."

Neither could Matthew Kurth, of Stratford, holding his third redundancy envelope in as many years.

As others did he wondered what might have been had former owner Noel Yarrow not died.

"I feel for Noel Yarrow. Some people think he would have put a stop to this. Either he would have not hired us all in the first place or he would have done something to fix it down the road."

That confidence, that feeling of family that made him proud to work there, brought him friends and skills as well as money, has gone.

People are just numbers now, he says.

At the Four Square a former worker, buys milk and bread, remembers Noel visiting the factory if he couldn't sleep, walking the product lines, talking to workers by name.

"That was before everyone wore name tags," he said.

CEO Colin Pettigrew still doesn't.

The pressure of the day, of overseeing job losses in a factory many thought immune, has been difficult, he says, in a stifling meeting room near his office. An ornate black pen held between both hands he explains the reasons for the redundancies then moves on to the rumours.

The rumours bubbling up all over town that more jobs will be lost next year, more families left without income.

"Manaia remains the face of Yarrows," he says. "It's the only site we have that makes fresh bread and that fresh bread goes throughout the lower North Island and into the Auckland market ... So there are no plans to shift away from Manaia. Yarrows at Manaia is the heart of the operation."

Just a smaller heart now than yesterday.

- © Fairfax NZ News