Mill workers to hit the streets

Workers from the soon-to-close Tanner timber mill in Kaitaia will take to the streets this morning in a bid for fair treatment.

The workers will march through the town at 10am, and will hold a public meeting at the Kaitaia community centre at 7pm.

EPMU national secretary Andrew Little said that the workers’ first option was to try and save the mill from closure.

“We want those jobs to stay in Kaitaia,” he said. “There is a lot of timber in the area that needs processing, and we think that the mill should stay open.”

If, however, the mill’s future could not be secured before the planned closing date of April 8, the workers should be paid redundancy, he said.

“We’re saying to this employer ‘do the decent thing. Don’t just throw these workers out with nothing. The very least they deserve is some redundancy pay’, and we’re asking the Kaitaia community to support us on that.”