By GREGG WYCHERLEY
Carter Holt Harvey has rejected a union proposal to avoid mass layoffs at its Kinleith pulp and paper mill, with the company announcing yesterday that it will carry out its plan to lay off 381 of the Tokoroa mill's workforce of 770.
The plan was first announced on March 27 and yesterday's decision followed six weeks of consultations ordered by an Employment Court judge, after he found the company had not acted in good faith when planning the cuts.
Judge Graeme Colgan said the company had acted "other than in good faith" by starting a consultation process when its contracting-out plan was already well formed.
He ruled that the company consult employees and their unions over its plan to lay off 191 staff and contract out another 190 maintenance jobs.
Consultations with the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union finished on Friday, ending a final effort to save the jobs.
Union advocate Mike Sweeney said yesterday he was furious that the company had announced its decision because there was an agreement to make a joint statement at the end of the consultation.
He said the union had not had a chance to talk to its members, and he would not comment until they had been consulted about the decision.
"We made a deal that we wouldn't make any comment until there was an agreement between the parties ... we are not making a statement until we have talked to our workers."
But company spokeswoman Robyn Orchard said the agreement applied only to the consultation period and the company was free to announce the decision without further meetings.
Ms Orchard said there would be further consultations with the union over the coming weeks over the timing and implementation of the redundancies.
The company expected at least 150 of the maintenance jobs to be given to employees.
Chief executive Brice Landman said the cuts were necessary if the mill was to survive.
He said the difference between the company and union proposals was close to $88 million over five years.
Proposal to save mill jobs rejected
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