Pacific Brands announces first redundancies

Pacific Brands announces first redundancies

Media release: NZ National Distribution Union
April 21, 2009

“Australian apparel company Pacific Brands announced its first redundancies in Palmerston North, New Zealand, yesterday as part of its decision to exist from New Zealand manufacture,” says Robert Reid, President of the National Distribution Union, which represents New Zealand workers at the company.

Pacific Brands announced on 4 March 2009 that the decision of the company to close manufacturing operations in Australia applied to New Zealand as well. This will see the loss of 38 jobs in Christchurch and 51 in Palmerston North. Today’s redundancies are for 7 workers in the knitting section at the Palmerston North site.

“In Australia over 1,800 jobs will be lost and this has caused a huge public backlash across the ditch,” says Robert Reid

“As a result of this backlash, Pacific Brands has offered a number of measures to assist the workers being made redundant in Australia over and above those contained in their Employment Agreements.

“However in New Zealand the company refuses to even formally meet with the union until mid-May, refuses to discuss many of the issues when it does meet and tries to dictate who the union can bring to the meeting when it takes place.

“To say that dealing with Pacific Brands is frustrating would be an understatement,” Robert Reid says.

“It seems that Pacific Brands is determined to treat its New Zealand workers as second class citizens.”

The National Distribution Union is considering legal action to force the company to come to the table.

Robert Reid says he agrees with the statement of Unite Union Secretary Matt McCarten on the attitude of Australian employers to kiwi workers in his newspaper column last Sunday where he says, “Kiwi politeness shouldn't be mistaken for weakness”.

ENDS

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