Forestry Minister David Carter will meet with the National Distribution Union next week about redundancies in the wood industries.
A meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, to discuss union concerns following 44 redundancies at Tangiwai Sawmill, near Ohakune, this week, adding to the job losses at WPI's Prime Sawmill in Gisborne and
26 job losses at Carter Holt Harvey's Kawerau Sawmill late last year.
General secretary Robert Reid said other companies also wanted to meet with the union to discuss scaling back production due to economic issues facing the industry.
"Many of the industry problems that have been identified to NDU are a result of government macro-economic policy settings, rather than efficiency or productivity issues in the industry itself.
"Given this, we reiterate our call of December 16 for the government to convene to an urgent meeting with industry and unions to see what can be done."
Reid cited increases in raw log prices, while processed timber prices declined, and the high New Zealand dollar that put the industry's value-added strategy at "serious" risk.
He called on Carter to address job losses in the industry. A spokesman from the minister's office said he would meet with the union on Tuesday.
Carter said he was "only too keen" to hear valuable and constructive suggestions on how to improve the competitiveness of the forestry processing industry, but rejected any suggestion of subsidies and tax rebates."
"This Government is not about to embark in old style intervention measures".
WPI managing director David Anderson said, following the latest job losses, that the decision was not taken lightly and should have been made earlier.
"The price people are paying for timber has been going in one direction and that is down. What we are receiving for output is decreasing and the cost of our inputs, that is logs, have been increasing." Mr Anderson said the Government was in a very difficult situation.
"They can't control the international log price; they can't control the international timber price; and it seems they can't control the New Zealand dollar," he said. "But no doubt the minister has many advisors that can assist him in finding solutions."
- additional reporting NZPA
