Gary Petley: South Waikato District Mayor on the shutdown of the Kinleith Mill paper division

Tokoroa’s Kinleith Mill owner has confirmed plans to permanently end paper production.

From June the change will be implemented and roughly 230 factory workers will be jobless.

South Waikato District Mayor Gary Petley says the impact on the town will be ‘huge.’

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Tokoa Right, the owner of the Kanneath mill at Tokaroa,
has confirmed plans to permanently end paper production from June.
About two hundred and thirty factory workers will then lose
their jobs. Og Fiber Solutions says it will transition the
mill to focusing just on pulp, no more paper, and
it will move to a paper import model for its

(00:22):
packaging operation. So Gary Pittley from the Southwakado, he is
the South Southway Katto District mayor joins you. Now, Hello, Gary, Andrew,
how are you? Matt good? How are you sad day?

Speaker 2 (00:34):
He is? Said day sad day?

Speaker 1 (00:36):
Okay? So is this the end of it all? Or
is there any room to save any other jobs before June?

Speaker 2 (00:45):
What of from one of the people I've spoken to, Andrew,
I think they'll continue to ask the options available throughout
that whole exercise, and it could It may not just
be those that are directly affected. There may be some
job swaps that have been put to the to og

(01:07):
Og Solutions and that wouldn't They don't want to tell
somebody who's been there for quite an long period of
time opting for redundancy but doing a job swap with
an affected worker. So those options have to be looked at,
and we're just to see where they land. And they've
got till June and before they make that song.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
Other thin other than making the decision you hate, do
OG five seem like good people.

Speaker 2 (01:35):
I was probably alerted question Andrew, But you know, I
get from my perspective, and I come from twenty one
years having worked there and left there under the redundancy
model in nineteen ninety eight, so I was, but then
the situation was different then because it was my decision
to go there and my wife and I wanted to

(01:58):
pursue other options out in the field.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
Let's go back to your new job. You are the mayor.
This is going to have a huge impact impact on
the town. And we were talking to a boat before
who said, yeah, sure, there's two hundred odd jobs that
are going, but it's actually all the contractors who who
are part of it, or it could be more like
a thousand. And then for every job that you lose,
that affects three other jobs. And the problem with Talker
Raw is that you were too dependent on one industry.

(02:23):
So so how big is this impact going to be
and is it survivable?

Speaker 2 (02:27):
It's it's huge. It's huge because, as you alluded to,
those two hundred and thirty workers, and it's to support
wrap around service from contractors that add up and truck
drivers and transport deliveries and carriers that add up to
that that will add up to their total. Is it survivable? Yes,

(02:49):
I think it is, and I believe that the council
have been working on initiatives to to get new business
into town. And we've got a industrial park that we're
developing now in twelve of the thirteen sites have been
sold already that's being developed that will create about two

(03:09):
hundred to three hundred jobs. The Ofi or Ofi Dairy factory,
the new one on the south side of town, is
looking at signing off on phase two of their development,
so that will create more jobs.

Speaker 1 (03:25):
I suppose this is a warning mate to all the
towns in New Zealand that are dependent on one employer
that you can never diversify your employment base enough and
that you must always work on it, you know, to
get safeguard against the rainy day that's coming.

Speaker 2 (03:40):
Yeah. I think the reality around that, Andrew, is that
everybody gets comfortable in their own in their own space,
and I guess where we should have been looking more
in my view when redundancies first started happening, when we
went from a four thousand and four thousand and four
and a half thousand workforce four hundred, and that will

(04:03):
suggest that discussion has sort of been on alternative employment
or getting new business into town.

Speaker 1 (04:12):
Okay, we wish you all the best of luck and everybody.
And Tocora is a lovely town. You've got a great
forest right there, You're close to the lakes for recreation,
and it's close to going skiing as well, if if,
if the snow ever arrives. And I just want to
wish you and all the people of Tokoro and Southware
all the best of luck, and I thank you for
your time. Gary, Thank you very much, Andrew Gary Pitley.

(04:32):
He is the South White Kato District mayor.

Speaker 2 (04:36):
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