Carter Holt Harvey has begun consulting with staff about closing its ply plant in Tokoroa. File photo. Photo: 123rf
More possible job losses in South Waikato will be gutting for the families involved, says a local leader.
Carter Holt Harvey has begun consultation with staff on closing its ply plant in Tokoroa and importing ply from overseas, with the loss of up to 119 full-time jobs.
South Waikato Investment Fund Trust (SWIFT) chief executive Clive Somerville said there were green shoots in the district, but the current focus was on the families affected by recent and proposed job losses.
"It's terribly sad, and on top of the OJI news is poor timing, and on top of tertiary education retrenchment and sector reforms, people have lost their roles there, and so we have proactively looked out to food banks and budgeting services this year as well as we really invest in people capability and business capability," he said.
SWIFT was part of Project Phoenix, which the South Waikato District Council established earlier this year to support people who had been made redundant from OJI Fibre Solutions after the Kinleith paper mill was closed.
"[It's] central government, local government, service providers and the beautiful people of South Waikato coming together for a cause," said Somerville.
When the polytechnic institute Toi Ohomai proposed closing its Tokoroa campus, Somerville said the district and community pulled together to oppose it.
"As part of Project Phoenix we were able to say we want more and we want better."
But it would probably not be enough to save the Carter Holt Harvey jobs, with the union and mayor yesterday saying the consultation felt like box-ticking and the decision a fait accompli.
Somerville said there were good things happening in the district, and the prime minister recently visited Blue Pacific Minerals, which was bringing more of its business to the South Waikato.
However, he said the wider economic situation had delivered the "most brutal year".
"That is bigger than South Waikato, that is bigger than Tokoroa, that is economic cycles."
But he leant towards optimism.
"I'm incredibly hopeful that as a whole this beautiful place that we are in - the South Waikato, New Zealand Aotearoa - is going to experience a bit of an uplift, but that's certainly bigger than just Toi Ohomai, or Carter Holt Harvey, or OJI," he said.
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