Thursday, 24 July 2014 10:25

Help for Fonterra workers

Written by 

The Dairy Workers Union says redundancies at a Fonterra packaging plant in Waikato will come as a heavy blow to those affected and the union will be doing everything it can to support workers.

 

Fonterra are proposing 114 positions - of which approximately 80 are Dairy Workers Union members' positions - are made redundant at its Canpac packing operations facility in Hamilton.

"This announcement is the start of a consultation phase and we will be talking to our members and with the company to create good options for affected workers," says Dairy Workers Union national secretary Chris Flatt.

"Dairy Workers Union members at the site are covered by a collective agreement, and we are using the processes set out in the agreement to protect workers as much as possible."

"A consultative committee will now be established to minimise the impact on workers. We are working with the company on options like redeployment inside the business and in the wider Fonterra group as well as voluntary redundancies."

Dairy Workers Union members at Canpac have redundancy compensation provisions in their collective agreement.

Fonterra plans to realign its packing operations at Canpac, in the Waikato, to focus more on paediatric nutritionals.

The proposal would see Canpac move to operating 24 hours a day, Monday-to-Friday, instead of the current seven days a week operation. The plant employs 330 people.

More like this

"Our" business?

OPINION: One particular bone the Hound has been gnawing on for years now is how the chattering classes want it both ways when it comes to the success of NZ's dairy industry.

Farmers' call

OPINION: Fonterra's $4.22 billion consumer business sale to Lactalis is ruffling a few feathers outside the dairy industry.

Wasted energy

OPINION: Finance Minister Nicola Willis could have saved her staff and MBIE time and effort over ‘buttergate’ recently by not playing politics with butter prices in the first place.

Featured

Fencing excellence celebrated

The Fencing Contractors Association of New Zealand (FCANZ) celebrated the best of the best at the 2025 Fencing Industry Awards, providing the opportunity to honour both rising talent and industry stalwarts.

B+LNZ launches AI assistant for farmers

Beef + Lamb New Zealand has launched an AI-powered digital assistant to help farmers using the B+LNZ Knowledge Hub to create tailored answers and resources for their farming businesses.

National

Machinery & Products

JDLink Boost for NZ farms

Connectivity is widely recognised as one of the biggest challenges facing farmers, but it is now being overcome through the…

New generation Defender HD11

The all-new 2026 Can-Am Defender HD11 looks likely to raise the bar in the highly competitive side-by-side category.

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

Buttery prize

OPINION: Westland Milk may have won the contract to supply butter to Costco NZ but Open Country Dairy is having…

Gene Bill rumours

OPINION: The Gene Technology Bill has divided the farming community with strong arguments on both the pros and cons of…

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter