Fonterra Suppliers Confident in Mainland Dairy Future
Fonterra's 460 milk suppliers in Australia, who will switch to Lactalis end of this month, are unfazed with the impending change.
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.
