Kinleith plan stays largely same

By Felicity Anderson, Nzoom.com Business News Editor

Monday 27th May 2002

Two months of negotiations with unions has not changed Carter Holt Harvey's plans to shed jobs and outsource maintenance at its Kinleith pulp and paper mill.

Brice Landman, Kinleith's Chief Executive, says a further 19 jobs than originally forecast in March will be retained.

The mill currently has 770 employees and plans to cut that to 389. It will also have 190 maintenance contractors on site.

CHH says the reorganisation is necessary to put Kinleith on a sustainable footing from which it can succeed globally.

Outsourcing maintenance will improve financial performance by at least $12 million per year, CHH says and none of the options considered could have delivered that.

Landman said that Carter Holt Harvey would begin negotiating a full service maintenance contract with ABB immediately.

Submissions from salaried staff identified a gap in knowledge management systems, Landman said and as a result four entirely new positions which will improve competitive capability have been created.

CHH says a second round of consultation will now consider the best way to implement the new structure. This will be followed by an assessment process for employees in July and August, with final implementation in September.

The company is also continuing to negotiate with the combined site unions to secure a collective employment agreement to replace the agreement that expired in March 2001.

Landman says the continuing rise in the New Zealand dollar underscores the absolute necessity of dramatically improving the mill's performance so it can compete effectively with the new mills being built in Russia, Chile and China.

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