THE union representing timber workers has warned the region’s only remaining Carter Holt Harvey processing site is under threat from closure as the former timber giant continues plans to divest its Australian-based assets.
This follows Carter Holt Harvey (CHH) pushing for a wage freeze for the 26 remaining workers at the Nangwarry site.
The Nangwarry site – which was established by the State Government in 1941 and included a large sawmill – employed more than 400 people during its peak.
Today, the sprawling site lays mostly idle with just a section of the site being used.
The speculation also comes on the back of CHH putting its expansive Sturt Street site in Mount Gambier on the market and the company dismantling sheds and machinery for scrap metal at Nangwarry.
Speaking at the CHH Futurebuild Nangwarry site on Wednesday, Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union Greater Green Triangle secretary Brad Coates said the company had made “no secret” it wanted to exit the Australian timber sector.
“If CHH is going to shut the site down it should be honest with its workforce, rather than ‘stonewall’ on negotiations and fuelling the anxiety of workers about a possible closure,” Mr Coates said.
“These workers will go into the Christmas shutdown of four weeks not knowing what the future holds for them.
“These workers keep turning up to work every day thinking the announcement could be today – it is not much of a way to live your life.”
He suggested the workers’ “days were numbered” given the drop off in customer orders flowing into the site.
“The workers are resigned to the idea the site will close,” he said.”All they want is for the company to give them a pay rise or announce it will close.”He said workers had agreed to the wage freeze but wanted additional redundancy conditions given the uncertainty.
“This way we are hoping to flush the company out,” said Mr Coates, who explained some workers had been at the site for decades.
Asked about the impact on the township, he said Nangwarry already suffered its biggest hit in 2011 with widespread redundancies.
“A fair majority of the workers actually live in the town, so they may need to travel to Mount Gambier for work,” he said.
The union leader said Nangwarry was the only CHH site in Australia making the “hyJoist” engineered building product.
“In 2010/11 there were more than 300 workers here and then it went down to 30 – now there is only 26,” Mr Coates said.
“This is the only CHH manufacturing site left in South Australia. They have also announced the closure of the Tumut factory recently – they only now have Myrtleford, Nangwarry and a panels site in Gympie in Australia.”
Mr Coates said he understood everything owned by CHH in Australia was for sale.
“It would be great if someone came in and bought it, the site could be used for a number of things, including a biomass plant,” he said.
“It has a lot of sheds, three-phase power and gas – the infrastructure is all here, but my understanding is there has not been lot of interest in the site.”
He said the company was pushing for a wage freeze, which would mean workers would have no pay increase for two years.
“Workers at Nangwarry have responded to the company agreeing to a wage freeze, provided CHH increase the redundancy entitlements in the site collective agreement,” Mr Coates said.
“It is devastating for workers at Nangwarry that CHH has not even offered a CPI wage increase and is reflective of Carter Holt Harvey’s total disregard for its employees, many of whom have over 30 years of service at this site.”
Workers received their last pay rise of 2pc on October 30, 2017.
CHH has a long-standing policy not to speak with media.
