20 March 2014
Media Release: Service and Food Workers Union Ngā Ringa Tota
Up to 125 more Auckland jobs set to go
Up to 125 Auckland jobs will be gone by Christmas, with the closure of the Cerebos South Auckland operation.
Service and Food Workers Union Food Sector Leader, Chas Muir, said the job loss was a devastating result of poor
government manufacturing policies.
“Government’s lack of support for manufacturing is hitting areas like food processing hard,” he said. “That flows on to
families and communities.”
Chas Muir said around half of these workers have given Cerebos loyal service for over 10 years.
“Although the work is not highly paid, it is well above the minimum wage, with stable hours of work,” he said.
“It is decent work that these workers have relied on. None of the big food factories are employing and it will be very
hard for them to find jobs in their communities of South and East Auckland, especially at Christmas time.”
Chas Muir said government was very happy to promote New Zealand as a low-wage/insecure work destination for
multi-national companies, but did nothing to keep decent jobs in sectors such as food manufacturing.
“Today we are seeing more evidence of Government’s couldn’t care a less attitude,” he said. “The human cost of this
closure is decent stable jobs lost from poor communities that need jobs more than ever.
“This overseas-owned company is investing $10 million to expand their Dunedin production, but there is little hope of
this creating a single job. Meanwhile up to 125 Auckland workers and their families are out of a job.”