Jobs look gone, staff told

William Brown (centre), Tachikawa worker, says it will be the second time he has been made redundant but he is already looking for work. Photo / Ben Fraser

Staff at a Rotorua timber mill have been told to start looking for new jobs.

On Friday, receivers KordaMentha moved in to Tachikawa Forest Products on Vaughan Rd, sending staff home until further notice.

The receivers plan to sell the business and are considering whether it is viable to continue operating while it's for sale.

First Union officials, who represent about 90 of the mill's 130 workers, met their members, receivers, Rotorua's mayor-elect and MPs yesterday to discuss the mill's future.

However, First Union general secretary Robert Reid and wood secretary Rawiri Daniels said they told workers to start looking for work elsewhere because they did not hold much hope of the mill continuing its operations.

"The receivers are trying to sell it as a going concern but everything is still up in the air," Mr Daniels said.

Mr Reid said yesterday's meetings were all about getting prepared for the worst-case scenario.

"For the last three years the company has been struggling ... unfortunately their plans to save the company did not work."

He said yesterday's meetings were to make sure local MPs and organisations such as Work and Income were prepared for the fallout.

"Todd McClay said he would help cut some of the bureaucratic red tape and Steve Chadwick said she would speak to other mill owners around here to see if they can help," Mr Reid said.

Mr Daniels said workers were disheartened and annoyed.

"They, like us, are pessimistic about the future."

Mr Daniels said depending on how long they had worked at the mill, workers were entitled to up to $20,340 in redundancy payments.

"But it is not guaranteed they will even get that because if the company is really in the crap they could end up getting 50 or 60 cents in the dollar," Mr Reid said.

Mr Daniels said they would find out in another four to eight weeks if the receivers had managed to find a buyer.

William Brown, who has worked at the mill for seven years, said he did not hold out much hope of keeping his job and was already looking for work: "I'm gutted, I have a mortgage to pay and my wife works 16 hours a week. I was the main breadwinner for the family and this is a real blow.

"But I'm not going to sit around waiting, I have to look for another job," he said.