Job losses at Sealed Air in Rotorua

April 9, 2013
Media Release

Job losses at Sealed Air in Rotorua

Plastic packaging manufacturer Sealed Air has told workers at its Rotorua plant it intends to phase down production and close the plant by mid-2014.

The proposed closure would affect 112 staff, though many are expected to be offered alternative employment at Sealed Air’s expanded Hamilton operation.

The EPMU’s manufacturing industry organiser Louisa Jones says the union is working with Sealed Air to soften the impact of the closure.

“Sealed Air has engaged closely with the union and has indicated it would offer a number of workers re-employment at its Hamilton plant, with a generous relocation package to ease the transition.

“For workers who do lose their jobs there’ll be a union-negotiated redundancy package to help soften the blow.”

Ms Jones says the loss of the jobs is bad news for Rotorua, which has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country.

“There aren’t a lot of other jobs in Rotorua at the moment, and the loss of these good, secure manufacturing jobs would be a real blow to the local economy.

“Increasingly the few jobs that are around are casual, part-time or poorly paid. The Government needs to act now to stop the decline in manufacturing and create good quality jobs in places like Rotorua.”

New Zealand’s manufacturing sector has lost 17,000 jobs in the last year alone.

ENDS

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