Redundancies at Rakon

Rakon has announced it will be cutting 45 jobs in its Auckland manufacturing plant as the global economic downturn hits the company's export contracts.

The job losses will affect around a dozen EPMU members, who will receive a redundancy package under their collective agreement.

EPMU lead organiser Cliff Gunning says the redundancies show the impact of the international economic slowdown.

"Unfortunately there's not a lot that could have been done to avoid these redundancies given the economic situation. As a company heavily reliant on consumer demand overseas Rakon was always going to be vulnerable in a global recession.

"To be fair to the company they've been as good as you can be under the circumstances. We've had full consultation over the job losses and there have been no issues getting the redundancy payments sorted, even non-union members are being given some assistance.

"The important thing now is to see what we can do to help our members who have lost their jobs to find new work."

The EPMU represents around a hundred members at Rakon.