Forestry fears confirmed

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 4, Issue 24, 11 November 1986, Page 1

Forestry fears confirmed

The worst fears of local forestry workers have been confirmed. It had been hoped that the remoteness of Karioi and surrounding forests in the central North Island may afford some protection from staff cut-backs when the new Forestry Corporation takes over from the New Zealand Forest Service on 1 April 1987 (see last week's Bulletiri). But those hopes were dashed when the new Corporation outlined its proposals in a glossy 56-page booklet published last Friday. Forests throughout the country will be divided into regions which will in turn be divided into districts. Karioi. Tongariro. Rotoaira and Erua forests will come under the control of the Turangi District Office which is itself under the control of the Central Region Office in Rotorua. The four local forests have a total area of 30, 1 1 Oha (74.400 acres) and a total stocked area of 19,41 Oha (47.961 acres). The NZ Forest Service presently employs 23 wage workers and 1 1 salaried staff at Karioi State Forest. Under the new Corporation the number of salaried staff will be cut to five ... a loss of six jobs among experienced k'ey personnel. These five — a forestry technical supervisor, a forestry superintendent, a logging supervisor, a weighbridge supervisor and a workshop supervisor — will each have to negotiate individually with the Corporation their terms of employ-

ment and compete with other applicants. What will happen to the other forestry workers — the wage earners — is not yet certain. Under the new Corporation it is expected that about 1,000 staff throughout the country will be declared 'surplus to requirements" and will be offered job transfers, re-training, early retirement or voluntary redundancy. The impact of these job losses on the businesses in Ohakune and Raetihi will be considerable, said a local forestry spokesman. "We have six staff houses and 20 single men's units in Ohakune and another two houses at Karioi alone. If these non-seasonal workers and their families were to leave, all the retailers and tradesmen in the Waimarino will suffer because there would be that much less business to keep things ticking over between ski seasons," he said. "It will remove about a quarter-of-a-million dollars

a year in salaries and wages from the town." 'Tm worried about those guys at Tongariro and Erua State Forests too. These are largely indigenous forest with a very small area of exotics and instead of going over to the Forestry Corporation next year they will become part of the Department of Conservation." "What will happen to the eight wage-workers and two salaried staff presently employed by the NZ Forest Service there no-one can yet tellr" Forestry staff from all over the region who attended the 3-hour meeting in Palmerston North last Friday, at which the Corporation's proposals were outlined. staged a symbolic walk-out at the end of the meeting as a form of protest about the new conditions and resolved to go on strike this Thursday. They will travel to Wellington and hold a demonstration on the steps of Parliament.