Tiwai Smelter workers fear job loss

Workers at the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter say morale is at an all-time low and many fear for their jobs.

Wednesday's announcement that New Zealand Aluminium Smelters (NZAS) would shed 65 jobs in the next two months - instead of in five years as previously planned - has shocked many staff.

Staff consultation about the restructure has begun, with options including voluntary redundancies, redeployment to other roles and forced redundancies.

Smelter workers contacted yesterday said they were afraid to speak out in case they were targeted for redundancy. Workers were whispering about closure, but did not know what was going on.

The worker said staff were concerned they had not heard from Deputy Prime Minister and Clutha Southland MP Bill English and Invercargill MP Eric Roy.

Mr Roy said it was a fair comment but he had been in talks with smelter general manager Ryan Cavanagh and would have discussions with State Owned Enterprises Minister Tony Ryall next week.

"I have also had discussions with decision-makers up the line," he said.

He was worried about the job losses and the further viability of the smelter and the financial impact of the world recession on Rio Tinto, he said.

Mr Cavanagh declined to comment about the staff fears yesterday.

His spokeswoman, community relations officer Andrea Carson, said: "As Ryan said yesterday, at this stage there are no plans for closure.

"Tough times will continue in aluminium in the short term and the business will continue to focus on innovation, flexibility and adaptability to try and remain viable.

"Our team has worked tirelessly on cost savings and improvement programmes all year.

"I believe we have a future but we need to be viable and so we need to implement process improvements, increase our efficiency and reduce costs, particularly power costs."

Meanwhile, Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union Southland organizer Trevor Hobbs met unionised staff at the plant yesterday.

“It was unexpected. The reality is they were told they had five years to take redeployment opportunities and now out of the blue that has been changed to two months".

Mr Hobbs confirmed workers had to be interviewed and complete a test as part of a rating process to decide who would keep their jobs.

He had asked the company to look into the tax implications for workers made redundant and for it to keep the workers informed. Mr Hobbs said workers did not want to speak because it would be like putting a target on their head.