Union warns of oil jobs shockwave
The First Union says Refining NZ has advised that at least 90 per cent of the 1100 Northlanders whose jobs depend on the Marsden Point oil refinery would be out of work if it switches to importing refined fuel.
Union organiser Justin Wallace had estimated on Thursday that about two-thirds of the 400 staff and 250 contractors employed at the refinery itself would lose their jobs.
But he said Refining NZ had advised that a total of ‘‘1100 high skilled jobs in Northland dependent on the refinery [would] be lost if it becomes a simple import terminal employing at best, 10 per cent of its current number in the medium term’’.
That information ‘‘came directly from the company out of presentations that they have given’’, Wallace said.
He reiterated that another 2400 workers outside the region who supplied services to Marsden Point would also be affected if refining ceased.
Refining NZ did not comment on whether it had provided those figures, but said there was no plan to close the refinery and turn it into an import terminal for refined fuel as yet.
‘‘All we have said is that we will evaluate the potential to move to a terminal at some point in the future,’’ chief executive Naomi James said.
Z Energy, which owns 15 per cent of Refining NZ, has publicly backed the idea of Refining NZ closing its refinery and instead importing fuel.
Mobil, which owns 17 per cent, and BP (10 per cent), have yet to clearly show their hands.
James told staff in a video presentation that she could not say when a decision would be made.
The necessary evaluations, discussions and negotiations might take some time.
Meanwhile, the refinery had decided to ‘‘simplify’’ its operations over the next six months to make it more competitive, with an update expected in September.
‘‘At this point, I can’t tell you what this means for jobs,’’ she told staff, with regard to the near-term simplification programme.
James said Refining NZ would not expect fuel prices to increase if it switched to an import model.
But Wallace said prices would rise if the refinery closed.
Refining NZ was going through the proper process and not being ‘‘ratbags’’, he said.
But Wallace said the union’s members wanted it to speak up and for ‘‘Wellington and New Zealand to understand the potential outcome of this’’.