Napier mayor Barbara Arnott is promising to help skilled staff at PDL Electronics find new jobs when the company's plant in Onekawa closes later this year.
The last thing Hawke's Bay needed was to lose a group of skilled workers when there was such a shortage of them, Mrs Arnott said.
PDL,
now owned by France-based Schneider Electric Ltd and Japanese conglomerate Toshiba Corp, is heading toward closure by the end of the year. It has 92 staff, of whom about 20 will remain in after-sales support roles, while up to 20 others could be offered jobs in Japan or France.
The company had delayed announcing the closure as definite while it consults staff this month, but operations manager Michael Lynch said the variable-speed drives (an electronic device that controls the rotational speed of a piece of motor-driven equipment) the company produced in Napier were due to replaced by a new range of products.
The company was also facing higher logistical costs bringing components to Napier then shipping products to its main markets in Europe, Asia and America.
"This decision has been made on a strategic basis," Mr Lynch said. "We're talking to staff this month. It's an awful time for everyone, but we need to move quickly."
He could not think of anything that staff could suggest that might change the proposal to close the Napier plant.
"Our staff have done every thing that we've asked of them over time," he said.
The proposal is to cease research and development at the end of next month, and manufacturing in December.
Mrs Arnott, who met PDL executives this morning, said the council would know in two weeks how many people would need new jobs.
The phased shut-down was a good plan because it gave PDL staff and their families time to adjust to what was happening.
"It's good for the human side of it, and their families. People need that buffer and it's good of PDL to give it to them.
"We will work to re-locate the skilled staff in jobs within Hawke's Bay, and the Ministry of Social Development will work with any unskilled labour."
The council had a huge database of skilled people and job vacancies that was being constantly updated, and Hawke's Bay's economy was still growing steadily, Mrs Arnott said.
Napier mayor Barbara Arnott is promising to help skilled staff at PDL Electronics find new jobs when the company's plant in Onekawa closes later this year.
The last thing Hawke's Bay needed was to lose a group of skilled workers when there was such a shortage of them, Mrs Arnott said.
PDL,
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