Up to 60 jobs could be cut at an electronics maker in Christchurch as part of plans to scrap its contract manufacturing wing.
Dynamic Controls has 400 staff worldwide, including 200 based in Christchurch.
Staff were told about the proposal on Wednesday. Chief executive Charlotte Walshe says those affected by the cuts were saddened by the news, but most were expecting it, and blamed the job losses on global economic decline.
Ms Walshe said a final announcement is expected next week after Dynamic Controls and the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union discuss the proposal and the aim is for 40 to 60 jobs to be shed over six to nine months as the contracts end.
However, Ms Walshe told Radio New Zealand's Checkpoint programme the company is doing what it can to find alternative manufacturers for its customers and jobs for the workers it is laying off.
The EPMU warns more manufacturing jobs will be lost if the Government does not step in and help.
Lousia Jones, the union's manufacturing industry organiser, says the Dynamic Controls announcement is the latest of many within the sector and fears it is a deepening crisis.
Ms Jones says 40,000 manufacturing jobs have been cut since 2008 and employers, unions and the Government need to work together to create a strategy to stop the decline.
