Scott Technology cans 13 staff, moves to more temps: EPMU

Scott Technology lays off 13 staff, moves to more temp workers, EPMU says

By Suze Metherell

May 26 (BusinessDesk) - Scott Technology, the industrial automation firm, has laid off 13 workers telling them the company wanted to rely on more temps to fill orders, according to the union representing staff.

The Dunedin-based firm last week told workers their positions were now redundant, according to a statement from the Engineering, Printing & Manufacturing Union. The move comes after Scott Technology acquired three businesses over an 18-month period, and flagged it will need to raise new capital to reduce borrowings.

Last October, Scott Technology said its manufacturing businesses were coming under pressure from the strong New Zealand dollar, which eroded export earnings.

“We’ve asked the company to hold off redundancies until they know if they’ll be successful in several contracts they’re bidding on, but they’ve refused,” said Ross Heslop, EPMU organiser for the Scott Technology workers. “They’ve indicated they want to move away from the employee model and begin relying more on temp workers to fill orders."

The company wasn't immediately available for comment.

In December, the industrial automation firm bought Australian business Machinery Automation and Robotics for A$13 million via bank debt, after buying Melbourne-based Applied Sorting Technologies (AST) for $1.3 million and Ohio-based RobotWorx for up to US$7.7 million in cash and shares, as it looks to expand its presence in Australia and the US.

Last month, Scott Technology posted a 40 percent gain in first-half profit to $1.1 million as sales rose 16 percent to $29.3 million from the recent acquisitions.

Shares of Scott Technology were unchanged at $1.37.

(BusinessDesk)

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