19 Jul 2012

Fisher and Paykel jobs go to Thailand

10:04 pm on 19 July 2012

Fisher & Paykel has confirmed it is making 29 staff redundant and shifting some of its production to Thailand.

The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union and the FIRST union say employees were told at a meeting on Wednesday that a refrigerator production line is being discontinued and moved to the company's Thai factory.

The company says the redundancies were announced six weeks ago and are part of the company assessing where best to locate production.

The FIRST Union says the company is shifting from paying its New Zealand employees well above the minimum wage to paying extremely low wages to workers in Thailand.

It says Fisher & Paykel needs to start paying its staff properly when it does shift production overseas.