Why Fonterra accepted defeat in the dairy aisle
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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.
Foot and Mouth Disease outbreaks could have a detrimental impact on any country's rural sector, as seen in the United Kingdom's 2000 outbreak that saw the compulsory slaughter of over six million animals.
The Ministry for the Environment is joining as a national award sponsor in the Ballance Farm Environment Awards (BFEA from next year).
Kiwis are wasting less of their food than they were two years ago, and this has been enough to push New Zealand’s total household food waste bill lower, the 2025 Rabobank KiwiHarvest Food Waste survey has found.
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DairyNZ says its plantain programme continues to deliver promising results, with new data confirming that modest levels of plantain in pastures reduce nitrogen leaching, offering farmers a practical, science-backed tool to meet environmental goals.
'Common sense' cuts to government red tape will make it easier for New Zealand to deliver safe food to more markets.
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