EPMU Media Release

30 January 2007

Closure will hurt workers

The closure of Southland milling company Bright Wood will leave workers high and dry says the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union.

The workers, half of whom are EPMU members, have no redundancy cover and no collective agreement due to Bright Wood’s aggressive anti-union stance.

EPMU National Industry Organiser for Timber, Alan Clarence, says members are facing a bleak outcome.

“All that is available to these guys is a payout of four weeks wages and they may be required to work those weeks. They’ve effectively been left with no jobs and no compensation.”

Bright Wood New Zealand is entirely owned by Bright Wood US and the news of the immediate closure came as a directive from the US yesterday at 1pm.

Clarence says the closure shows the dangers for New Zealand workers when multinationals invest without any responsibility.

“The company has no community stake-holding or responsibilities; they’ve basically plundered and bailed.

“The fact that we were not consulted about this at all shows how little the company values its workers and their union. Thankfully this isn’t representative of the situation across the timber industry which is still in good shape and is generally receptive to workers and wood-sector unions.”

Bright Wood’s US operations are the sole buyer of the Southland mill’s product and the company has previously used its New Zealand connections for its US marketing campaigns.

ENDS

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