E T\u016b union regional organiser Norm Mouritsen said of the 350 roles potentially on the chopping block, 50 were at the King St facility where Wattie\u2019s started its empire.<\/p>\n
Mouritsen said 500 people were employed at King St in peak season, but it currently it had 350 full-time workers.<\/p>\n
An E t\u016b union delegate at the King St facility, who asked not to be named, said they\u2019d worked at the factory for 21 years and the mood in the facility at the moment was the \u201clowest\u201d they\u2019d seen.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are gutted,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve seen a lot of things here over the last 20 or so years and we used to have a really good buzz in the factory. People used to come in and make comments about how there was a buzz in there, but at the moment it\u2019s pretty low.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s actually been quite hard to stay focused on our job when you know that you\u2019ve got this hanging round your head.\u201d<\/p>\n
Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing Chris Penk said he sympathised with Heinz Wattie\u2019s staff.<\/p>\n
He said he\u2019d been briefed on the situation and understood the decision followed consideration and the exploration of alternatives.<\/p>\n
Penk said the country\u2019s manufacturers had faced challenges for several years because of inflationary pressure and supply chain disruptions, as well as global tariffs creating headwinds for export-driven businesses.<\/p>\n
However, Penk said he had received positive feedback from the wider industry, with the latest ANZ New Zealand Business Outlook survey showing manufacturing leading business confidence at 77 points, and the latest BNZ BusinessNZ Performance of Manufacturing Index showing the sector expanding, with a PMI reading of 55.2, above the 50.0 level that indicates overall growth.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the same time, we recognise that many companies have had to weather a long period of economic turbulence,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is why it remains so important that this Government continues its work to enhance energy supply, control inflation and strengthen New Zealand\u2019s trade connections around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Labour\u2019s jobs and income spokeswoman Ginny Anderson said the Government had added \u201canother massive failure to its record, mismanaging the economy so badly that even the future of Wattie\u2019s is limited in New Zealand\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cChristopher Luxon shrugs it off, but the truth of it is we are now looking at losing a trusted food supply chain because of National\u2019s failings,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Tukituki MP Catherine Wedd said it was a hugely challenging time for everyone affected by the proposal, and support was available through the Ministry of Social Development.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have spoken to Wattie\u2019s and they are currently working through the proposal with growers and those families impacted as they continue to operate business across their Hastings site.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hastings Mayor Wendy Schollum said Wattie\u2019s had been part of the city for generations and she felt sorry for \u201cevery worker at all the affected sites\u201d, especially those impacted by the loss of the frozen line and growers potentially impacted by the changes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will work with our economic development partners and Wattie\u2019s to understand the full impact on our community,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Despite the announcement, Schollum said Wattie\u2019s remained a major employer and an important part of the district and she was confident the relationship between Wattie\u2019s and Hastings would continue \u201cfor many decades to come\u201d.<\/p>\n
Jack Riddell is a multimedia journalist with Hawke\u2019s Bay Today and has worked in radio and media in the UK, Germany, and New Zealand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"E T\u016b union regional organiser Norm Mouritsen said of the 350 roles potentially on the chopping block, 50…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326055,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1975,138,10666,13741,5194,174624,3112,33091,175783,111,139,69,1523,423,29056,312,7812,15314,23359,102,12767,1530],"class_list":["post-326054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-at","tag-business","tag-cuts","tag-factory","tag-hastings","tag-heinz","tag-job","tag-lowest","tag-morale","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-over","tag-point","tag-proposed","tag-says","tag-seen","tag-theyve","tag-watties","tag-with","tag-worker","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326054\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}