13 August 2015

Solid Energy’s workers deserve more

Solid Energy’s workers and the West Coast community face two more years of uncertainty with today’s announcement of the State Owned Enterprise going into voluntary administration, Opposition Leader Andrew Little says.

“While there is relief that worker entitlements such as redundancies may be protected and that some jobs will be saved, there is a lot of work to be done in the region to create new opportunities after the loss of hundreds of jobs in mining industries over the past two years.

“It didn’t have to be this way. The Government encouraged Solid Energy’s management to make reckless decisions and risky investments. They ran wild and hundreds of millions of dollars of debt were incurred.

“We are now in a situation where the first major SOE to fail is preparing to sell off its assets bit by bit while other coal mines are continuing to operate profitably. This is not just an asset sale, it’s a fire sale.

“The Government now owes it to Westport and the region to put all its efforts into developing a rigorous regional development strategy which will create new jobs and opportunities for the community.

“When Holcim cement factory closes next year a further 200 jobs will be lost. Kiwi Rail has indicated that Solid Energy’s demise will lead to job losses there also. This is all adding to a tally in the thousands for the West Coast at a time when the economy is stumbling.

“National has spent years ignoring the regions, sitting on its hands and cheering commodity prices with no preparation for the future. They must act urgently now to revitalize the West Coast and its hardworking people,” says Andrew Little.

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