More than 200 Infracon staff were called to meetings yesterday morning by liquidators Price Waterhouse Coopers who had posted security guards at the entrance to the depots.
"It's all over," Infracon employee Dave Barrett told media.
"There's no wages," he said. "We've been told we've got up to $20,340 in preferred treatment redundancy, but this is really going to hit our Tararua towns."
While 100 staff members have been asked to go home by PwC liquidators John Fisk and Tony Pattison, another 100 at Infracon depots in Dannevirke, Woodville, Hastings, Waipukurau, and Palmerston North, have been asked to remain working on a day-to-day basis until they can enter into a liquidators agreement.
The company is 66 per cent owned by Tararua District Council and 34 per cent by Central Hawke's Bay District Council.