Plastic packaging manufacturer Sealed Air will phase down production at its Rotorua plant, looking to close midway through next year, with job losses likely.

The closure will affect 112 staff, though The company hopes to offer alternative employment to many of the workers at its expanded Hamilton operation.

Louisa Jones from the Engineers Printers and Manufacturers Union (EPMU) says Sealed Air is working with the EPMU. She says, “Sealed Air has engaged closely with the union and has indicated it would offer a number of workers re-employment at its Hamilton plant, with a generous relocation package to ease the transition. For workers who do lose their jobs there’ll be a union-negotiated redundancy package to help soften the blow.”

With 17,000 manufacturing jobs lost in the past 12 months, she has called on the government to act immediately to stem the flow. She says, “There aren’t a lot of other jobs in Rotorua at the moment, and the loss of these good, secure manufacturing jobs would be a real blow to the local economy. Increasingly the few jobs that are around are casual, part-time or poorly paid. The Government needs to act now to stop the decline in manufacturing and create good quality jobs in places like Rotorua.”