Joe Gallagher: E tū negotiations specialist on Kinleith Mill halting paper production and putting jobs on the line

There's concern for hundreds of Kiwi workers as one of New Zealand's biggest pulp and paper mills looks to halt production.

Tokoroa's Kinleith Mill plans to halt paper processing by June 2025 - with 230 jobs on the line.

E tū negotiations specialist Joe Gallagher says these jobs cuts will have a ripple effect that impacts the rest of Tokoroa.

"Tokoroa was born out of the fact that a lot of people migrated to the area to work at Kinleith - a lot of people rely on Kinleith. 230 jobs is not insignificant and that's not counting the downstream of people in cafes, doctors, nurses and all those other jobs.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
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Speaker 2 (00:17):
To talk it to those. It's a tough day for
the town. They've got news that two hundred and thirty
jobs are set to be cut at the pulp and
paper mill. Now Malaysian manufacturer paper manufacturer og Fiber Solutions
owns the place wants to stop producing paper at kin
Leaf next June. It's already shutting. It's Penrose plant in Auckland.
Joe Gallagher from two was at the meeting with staff
this morning.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
Hey Joe, afternoon, Heather, Joe, Listen.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
This was always on the cards, wasn't it after Penrose.

Speaker 3 (00:42):
A Look, you know we've got, you know, facing some
pretty tough economic conditions. There's a bit more to this
potential closure than Penrose. I mean, you've got power and
guest prices, you've got an aging plant in a really
tough kind of way. We're standing there reflecting today. I'm
standing in a place full of trees, yet the price

(01:04):
of domestic blogs. You know, OGI doesn't own a forest,
so they have to they have to purchase the logs
at roughly three hundred dollars a ton, so and they're
saying they can't they can't make paper. They need ten
tons of chip to make one ton of paper. And
they say it's only economical, which is you know, kind
of you know, adding head into the mix. And it

(01:25):
just doesn't make sense when we're in a country full
of trees. It's just, you know, it's really hard to take.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
What happens to these people. I mean, I can't imagine
that there are a huge number of jobs in Talkarora No,
and you.

Speaker 3 (01:35):
Know it's been around for over fifty years. You know,
it's you know, in the Tokura really was born out
of the fact that a lot of people are migrated
to the area to work at Kindley. So you know,
a lot of people rely on in the south south
of way Kato rely on Kindley. You know, two hundred
and thirty jobs. It's not insignificantly, that's not counting the

(01:57):
downstream effect on cafes, doctors, nurses and all those other jobs.
And someone said to me, oh, they're building a new
countdown down there, you know, I mean it's a pretty
tough thing to take to go from well paid jobs,
so potentially having good work comesdown or move away. It's
really people are very very upset, Joe.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
What's going to happen to the paper now as well?

Speaker 3 (02:20):
Well? I mean, essentially they will import paper from their
Malaysian plant or any other supplier that they can get.
But weren't they, Joe, weren't.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
They recycling our paper? Weren't we sending our paper there
for recycling a portion of it?

Speaker 3 (02:34):
But you know that a lot of the stuff that
they've got a paper machine there that makes a lot
of that packaging stuff that they supply to the fruit
industry in different industries, so they will import that and
that kind of raises that question. And this is why
I'm saying, you know, we need to halt the consultation.
We need to sit down. If they're serious about it,

(02:54):
we need to talk to people like change James. We've
got a regional Growth Fund if this is a perfect
example of why we could get some money, put some
horse fare in it, get some cool heads in the room,
and circle could come up with a way to support
can leap in the wider community to continue to make
paper in New Zealand.

Speaker 2 (03:12):
Joe, Beast of Black, thank you so much for your
time as Joe Gallagher from It Too.

Speaker 1 (03:16):
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