Beaulieu of Australia Hires Axed Carpet Workers

Manawatu, New Zealand, April 12, 2007--Skilled but unwanted Manawatu carpet workers are being scooped up by Beaulieu of Australia - and more local workers may face the axe in coming days, according to the Manawatu Standard.

A manager at Gold Coast carpet company Beaulieu of Australia "can't really understand" why skilled carpet workers are being let go by Godfrey Hirst.

"They have obviously put work into these people and trained them up and they are just letting them go. It certainly is a drain on their skilled workforce," Beaulieu manufacturing manager Wayne Bankier said.

Carpet-making machinists are skilled workers who took years to learn their trade and are welcome on the Gold Coast, he said.

"We will be hiring some of them from the Manawatu, I can assure you of that."

A Godfrey Hirst spokesman declined to comment.

The Manawatu Standard understands more than 10 workers at Foxton's Godfrey Hirst site face being laid off in coming weeks, with a decision expected within days.

Godfrey Hirst bought out Feltex when it went into receivership in October. Receivers announced the closure of the Kakariki wool-scouring plant and the loss of 44 jobs at the time, while restructuring is taking place at the Dannevirke, Foxton and Feilding plants.

Restructuring proposals include moving 20 Dannevirke workers to other plants and slashing overtime hours for 50 workers in Dannevirke, causing each to lose about $230 a week in wages.

Beaulieu, which is expanding, put the word out for skilled workers in Manawatu a fortnight ago and has received at least a dozen calls and emails.

About five of those people may be hired, and more calls are welcome as jobs in different areas are available, Mr Bankier said.

Some Manawatu workers who inquired about the Australian jobs had been laid off when the Kakariki plant closed last year. Others are still working at the Foxton, Feilding and Dannevirke plants.

Mr Bankier said one of the calls he received was from an employee who had worked at a Manawatu Feltex plant for more than 20 years and feared he was about to be laid off.

Vision Manawatu chief executive Andrew Powrie said it is disappointing to lose skilled workers from Manawatu, but they have to do what is best for themselves and their families.

"It's a population drain . . . and it's also a labour drain. New Zealand is going through a labour shortage of both skilled and unskilled workers."

Most of the McCain Food workers and TAB call centre workers laid off in recent months had found jobs with other companies, Mr Powrie said, but the carpet industry is a niche market and it is harder to find employment locally.

Related Topics:Beaulieu International Group