Heinz Wattie’s to cut jobs soon after Cerebos Gregg's acquisition in NZ
This is understood to be part of a global exercise to improve efficiency and cost-savings at plants.
The company is in consultation with its staff before confirming the exact number of redundancies.
Heinz Wattie's confirmed that its King Street and Tomoana processing sites would be affected.
"The company is communicating openly with employees and their union representatives about this, and is calling for expressions of interest for voluntary redundancies,” said Heinz Wattie’s in a statement.
"Based upon the response so far, it is likely the productivity improvements will be achieved without any forced redundancies.
"With the support of its parent company Kraft Heinz, Heinz Wattie's continues to invest significantly in its Hawke's Bay activities from growing to processing."
Post-purchase purge?
This layoff comes just about two months after the company received permission to purchase the food and instant coffee business of Cerebos Gregg's.
In November last year, Heinz Wattie's applied to the commission and competition authorities in Australia and Singapore to acquire Cerebos Gregg's. In March, New Zealand’s Commerce Commission had further granted clearance for the acquisition.
The E tū union food sector industry co-ordinator Phil Knight had told local media that they were in talks with the company.
“The main point for us is to actually get some information out of the company about what it is that's driving the proposal,” The New Zealand Herald reported Knight as having said.
“Once we have that we can work with our members to determine a response.”
The Wattie's operation in Hastings, Hawke’s Bay was where Sir James Wattie founded the company in 1934.
