Butchery workers told: Happy New Year, you're gone

Workers at New Plymouth butchery Matador Fresh will start the New Year without a job.

On Tuesday, the dozen employees at the shop were told by letter that the business would close today.

Despite knowing for some time the butchery was in trouble and being unofficially told to start looking for new jobs, the official notice and the way it was given angered them.

In a letter on Tuesday they were told their jobs were "superfluous to the employer's business requirements as from December 31, 2009".

The butchery has been owned by Awakino-based businessman Karl Reipen since June 2008 and has been on the market for several months.

A controversial figure, Mr Reipen owns a number of properties around Taranaki and is trying to give away the Stratford Mountain House and sell the Dawson Falls Romantic Hotel.

"It would have been nice if he had come in and said what was happening and said he was sorry," said Matador supervisor Joy Baker, who has worked at the Courtenay St business for 12 years. "But he stayed away and got his lawyer to come in and do it. It's just sad. It's not the way to do it."

The letter also said that employees had been aware the shop was closing down but Ms Baker said while that was the rumour and gossip around the business, they had never been told in person.

Fellow supervisor Jacqui Beatty said although they would get redundancy payouts most people needed more warning than what they had been given to prepare for their future.

"We have people working here with kids and mortgages and three days is not enough. We wanted to say this to Karl but he didn't give us the chance," Miss Beatty said.

"It's the timing too. That is a big thing for us. All the uni students are back now so it's going to be hard to get a job until March at least," she said.

Matador production manager Johannes Weiss declined to comment yesterday but last week had said reports in the Taranaki Daily News the business would close on Christmas Eve were incorrect. At the time he was not able to be as decisive about the future of the butchery.

Matador Fresh was known as Fitzroy Wholesale Meat Co when it first started producing goods for the Taranaki area about 30 years ago.

The asking price for the business was believed to be $1.35 million. It is understood Matador has two years left on a $120,000 annual lease.

Attempts to contact Mr Reipen for comment yesterday were unsuccessful.

- © Fairfax NZ News