Carter Holt Harvey's Kinleith pulp and paper mill in Tokoroa was shut down this morning in anticipation of 280 workers walking off the job to discuss industrial action today.
Kinleith spokeswoman Robyn Orchard said the mill had to be shut because it would be unattended during the meeting. Shutting down started
at 4am and took several hours as boilers and evaporators had to be cooled before turning off.
Ms Orchard did not know what time the meeting would end or when work could resume.
It would take several hours to get machines up and running again.
Workers' union representatives were unavailable for comment.
Production workers at the mill held a two-day strike last month over stalled collective agreement negotiations. That strike cost $1 million in lost production as machinery lay idle.
Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union site advocate Mike Sweeney said after the strike that a lack of progress towards a new collective agreement, after the last one lapsed in March last year, was serious.
Changes to workers' jobs as part of this year's restructuring needed to be addressed in negotiations, he said.
Meanwhile, some redundancy notice periods for 36 workers being made redundant from the mill were due to end today.
- NZPA
