Community reels after cheese factory closure

Husband and wife team Terry and Karen Watkins say they are reeling as they face the prospect of unemployment after Fonterra announced it would not rebuild its burned-out Tuamarina cheese factory.

They were among dozens of staff who left this week's meeting stunned after being told of the decision.

The factory, a Marlborough landmark since 1895, employed 40 staff at the height of the dairy season and had been gearing up to start production again before the fire hit on August 6, destroying its main building.

This week staff gathered outside in groups, some too shocked to speak, others in tears as they tried to grasp the significance of the announcement. Most were too upset to talk as they contemplated their futures.

"We're gutted," said Mr Watkins. "I had a gut feeling it was going to happen, but I was just hoping it wasn't going to go this way. We were definitely hoping for a rebuild. But personally I wasn't expecting one."

Mr Watkins, 51, a separator operator, and his wife Karen, 54, a laboratory assistant, had been working at the factory for more than five years.

They have no idea what they are going to do next, but are optimistic about finding other work in the area.

"I can't see us relocating, so it won't be with Fonterra," Mr Watkins said. "We've got family here, and property. And then there's our age. Never say never, but I can't see it happening."

Mrs Watkins said that although nobody had really had much time to think yet, most staff would probably take redundancy because, for various reasons, they couldn't leave Marlborough.

"It's going to affect Marlborough a lot. There are a lot of wages lost, and a lot of other businesses work here," she said.

Since the fire milk from Marlborough's 85 dairy farmers has been sent to Kaikoura for processing.

The original cheese factory was built by the Waitohi Co-operative Dairy Company nearly 100 years ago, and produced award-winning cheeses for many years, many of them under the Koromiko brand until the Marlborough Cheese company was absorbed in 2000 into the co-operative that became Fonterra.

Some of the older workers were more prepared for the bad news.

Allan Smith, 64, and Robert Carrick, 63, from Blenheim, have given 35 years of their lives to the factory. They are sad to see it end, but are more philosophical than some.

"Us older ones were more prepared," said Mr Smith.

"I've been in it long enough and I read exactly what they told us. The younger ones were more hopeful, so I never expressed my view because I knew they'd be upset. But I knew it was going to go."

But he said that whether you thought you were prepared or not, at the time the news was a crunch.

"Robbie and I have known each other a long time, and we've worked a lot together, and it's sad to see it end," he said. "It's a bit like the old grandmother, or your mother who's getting older - she gets to 90 and dies and there's still a crunch."

Mr Smith said factories had closed down behind him before, but never burned down behind him.

He intends to retire and do odd jobs, and is also planning to do more fishing and take trips around the country to see family.

Mr Carrick also has a plan of attack.

"It's a shame to lose the place after 35 years of service," he said.

"But now I'll go home and work for myself. A bit of landscaping, fencing, painting, stuff like that. There's plenty of work out there at the moment so I'm pretty confident."

Mr Carrick said Tuamarina would be affected badly by the closure.

"Not so much the cockies, but the contractors, all the electricians - the work's all gone. They've left because they don't have this plant to do. And a lot of goods went in and out of this building. There was lot of product, so that's a lot of truck time gone too."

- NZPA