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JUKEN NEW ZEALAND HAS CONFIRMED IT is going ahead with changes to the products made at its East Coast Mill in Gisborne to return the plant to profitability and secure its long-term future, which will lead to job cuts.
The company told staff in January that is was considering stopping production of Plywood and Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL) products and reducing the manufacture of Structural Laminated Veneer Lumber (SLVL) at its East Coast Mill because those parts of the business had been operating at significant losses for a number of years.
The mill will continue to make highvalue solid wood products used for highend residential and commercial interior cabinetry, furniture, solid doors and feature walls and, overtime, this side of the business will expand.
Juken General Manager, Dave Hilliard, says the final number of roles to go at the mill as a result of the changes wouldn’t be known after NZ Logger went to press.
But he adds: “Now that we have made the decision to go ahead with these changes, we will be working through a process to confirm exactly which roles and how many will go as result.
“There are around 100 roles impacted by the changes, but we anticipate that the final number of redundancies will be less than this, as a number of staff have applied to take voluntary severance and we also have some roles in our sawmilling side of the business that we’ll look to redeploy people into.”
Mr Hilliard says that during the consultative period alternative proposals were explored, including a suggestion to produce plywood for affordable housing in New Zealand, but the age of the machinery and investment required ruled this out.
He adds: “We have started work onsite with staff, unions, WINZ, Ministry for Social Development, local MPs, iwi, community and business representatives to support our people through this difficult process and to make sure they are supported into new jobs or re-training if their roles go.”
The company is also talking to other employers, including Far East Sawmills who have come forward to offer jobs (see story opposite).
Juken is talking to the Government on how the industry is adapting to keep local processing and manufacturing competitive in the international market place.