About 600 staff are employed during peak season at the 139-year-old Smithfield plant, which has been owned by Alliance since 1989.
The farmer owned co-operativesaid wherever possible, impacted staff will get the opportunity to apply for re-deployment at Alliance’s other processing plants, but the decision means the vast majority of Smithfield employees will be made redundant.
A meeting was held at Timaru’s Aorangi Stadium this morning, where staff were told of the shutdown.
Shanika Morris said the confirmed shutdown was a huge blow to her whole family.
But she added: “It’s definitely caused a lot of stress and anxiety.”
Pat Bohan (left) and Wayne Herrod flew over to Australia to potentially recruit redundant Smithfield employees for Australian abattoirs. Photo / Ben Tomsett
Savelio Atuekaho said he’d been working at Smithfield for two years.
“I’m not too happy but I am happy to get redundancy ... I’m going to miss a lot of mates out there.”
Atuekaho said he wasn’t yet sure what the redundancy packages would be.
And after the mass layoffs he was also uncertain about his own future, and assessing his options.
Alliance operates six other plants at Lorneville, near Invercargill, Mataura, Southland, Pukeuri, Nelson, Levin and Dannevirke.
Workers after a surprise meeting at the Smithfield meatworks in Timaru last month, where they were told they could lose their jobs. Photo / Tim Brown, RNZ
Sheepmeat, calves and night shift venison seasonal processing at Smithfield ended last month.
Venison day shift processing at Smithfield will continue until no later than the end of December. Then the plant will close.
Chief executive Willie Wiese today said closing the plant was a difficult decision for the company.
“Our thoughts are with our people and their families affected by the closure of this plant,” he said.
“Smithfield has been a familiar presence in the region for almost 140 years and we know this decision will impact the Timaru community and South Canterbury.
“Unfortunately, we must face the reality of declining sheep processing numbers as a result of land-use change.
“This has resulted in surplus capacity in our plant network. We cannot maintain excess processing capacity when livestock numbers don’t support it.”
Wiese said according to Alliance’s forecasts, it can can process its farmers’ sheep, deer, and cattle at our four other South Island plants during peak season, without the need for a fifth plant.
He acknowledged the feedback from our people over the consultation period.
