Summit Wool Spinners consulting with employees

Press release
Summit Wool Spinners in consultation with employees

Friday 20 March 2009

Summit Wool Spinners Ltd, of Oamaru, is in consultation with its 315 employees and their two unions, after experiencing a substantial fall in orders over the past few months.

The company met with its employees offsite this afternoon to provide information about the effects of the downturn in orders and to open a period of consultation.

“A range of options were presented to employees and their union representatives for their consideration over the next few days,” said a director of Summit Wool Spinners Mr Ricky Hammond-Tooke.

Also outlined at the meeting were the next steps in the ongoing process of consultation and its timetable, and details of the counselling help that’s being made available to all employees.

“We expect to be in a position to advise our employees what decisions the company has made in a few weeks,” said Mr Hammond-Tooke.

Mr Hammond-Tooke said the company was not in a position to confirm any details of restructuring until the consultation with its employees was completed.

“We have a difficult task ahead of us that’s the result of an unprecedented fall in orders.

“Summit Wool Spinners has some of the most skilled wool spinners and support people in the world working for the company.

“We recognise that our employees and their families are going through difficult times and as a responsible employer, we’ll be doing everything we can to help them,” said Mr Hammond-Tooke.

“The severity of the downturn is beyond anyone’s experience in the wool-spinning industry,” he said.

Last November shifts at the plant were reduced from 12 hours to 10 hours in response to downturn in orders.

“Even with those reduced shift hours, production capacity has far exceeded the current level of orders.

“The position is not sustainable and it became clear we needed to enter into further consultation with our employees about what could be done to deal with the downturn,” said Mr Hammond-Tooke.

Further discussions have been scheduled for next week between the company, its staff and the unions.

“We are fortunate to have a very supportive owner who has invested considerably in the plant over the years, and who is standing by us as they have done so in the past during difficult industry times..

Summit Wool Spinners has been owned since 1992 by the textile division of Sumitomo Corporation of Japan.

The company is New Zealand’s largest independent wool spinner, supplying yarn to carpet and rug-makers in New Zealand, Australia, South East Asia and the USA.

ENDS

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