Angry staff miss Noel Yarrow's family touch

BY KELLY LONEY AND GRETA CLEARY

Redundancies at Yarrows bakery mark the end of an era with staff saying it wouldn't have happened if Noel Yarrow was still around.

General consensus is that while "business is business" workers are upset at the way management has handled the restructuring and fear there are more job losses in the pipeline.

All staff who spoke to the Taranaki Daily News yesterday said the whole matter had been poorly communicated and many believed the business would not be in this situation if Mr Yarrow was still in charge.

Mr Yarrow died in April last year aged 83. His father established the bakery in Manaia in 1923 and Noel took over the operation in 1963.

He grew the business into an international operation without forsaking its humble origins in small-town Taranaki.

A long-term worker, who did not want to be named, said what was once a family, staff-orientated business had become a soulless corporate enterprise.

"The heart and soul has virtually gone out of the place. It makes sense to the beancounters but it's pretty poor as far as loyalty goes in our books."

He said that like other corporates, it had become heavily influenced by banks in recent years so its priorities had changed from people to money.

But CEO Colin Pettigrew said the company continued to operate with values Mr Yarrow instilled and it was these values that has seen the company grow.

"Noel Yarrow's passing was a great loss to his family, the business and the community," he said.

"He remains a Taranaki icon and his manner and presence is irreplaceable in the running of the factory, the bakery he built."

There was no intention to change the way business was done.

"Manaia is the mothership of the company, the heart and soul of the operation and always will be," Mr Pettigrew said.

On Tuesday a bombshell announcement about a production staff review was made to workers at the company's Manaia factory.

Unbeknown to most shift workers an earlier meeting had been held that day and 28 employees sent home on paid leave until their scheduled days off.

The review document had suggested 32 roles could be made redundant but the remaining four employees were on other shift cycles.

Short notice was also given to union delegates when they were told of the proposal by management 15 minutes before the staff meeting.

"There was nothing to suggest it's just a review, these people have obviously been made redundant," said one delegate.

There had been rumours for months around the factory there could up to 60 job losses which helped create a sense of uncertainty and fear for everyone's jobs, he said.

Since the announcement, the atmosphere on the production lines was described by another staff member as emotionally charged and tense as workers ponder the future.

One of the 32 who was told on Tuesday her job was being reviewed, said staff felt offended, unappreciated and ambushed.

"It's obviously been on the cards for a while, there's usually some truth in rumours. It would have been better if we were given more notice."

While many were uncertain about further job losses, everyone agreed the moves were not the start of a gradual closedown and the plant would stay in Manaia.

It is the first time in the company's history job losses have been considered. Few can recall a similar number of redundancies in the region in recent times.

In October last year about 28 workers from MCK Metals Pacific Ltd in Bell Block lost their jobs.

EPMU lead organiser Wayne Ruscoe said Taranaki had so far been immune to the recession compared with the rest of the country.

"As a region it has weathered the recession better than most other sectors ... there generally hasn't been much restructuring action."

Other workers' comments:

* "Yes dark days indeed."

* "At the end of the day, is it going to be 32 of us or another 32? Where is it going to stop?"

* "It's their mismanagement to blame."

* "Paul Yarrow should have been there."

* "They slash workers and build up their empire."

- © Fairfax NZ News