Kinleith update

Talks under way at the Kinleith pulp and paper mill are expected to last all day.

A team of workers led by EPMU Auckland regional secretary Mike Sweeney returned to talks at 9 o’clock this morning after adjourning yesterday.

At noon today Mr Sweeney said that talks were going slowly and would probably continue through the afternoon.

Two hundred and seventy workers at the mill walked out at noon on Friday in protest over delays in the settling of their collective employment agreement. Their old agreement expired on March 31, 2001.

The workers object to company plans to promote and demote workers at will, without a fair and transparent system.

They are also upset over a proposal that production workers should fight fires at the mill, something the union views as a serious health and safety risk.

Meanwhile, the company’s shareprice fell another four cents today, continuing the year’s downward trend.

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