Government Twiddling Thumbs While The Wood Sector Burns – Workers First Union

Workers First Union is calling out the National-NZ First-ACT Government for abandoning Northland’s workers with empty words and a blame game, as the proposed closure of Juken New Zealand’s Northland Mill in Kaitāia is likely to become the seventh major wood processing site lost on their watch, with over 800 jobs lost in the industry since late 2023. The union is calling for intervention and public ownership of the Northland Mill, even if temporary.

Dennis Maga, Workers First General Secretary, said the Government’s response to this week’s announcement had been as useful as a wet log.

“We got two responses from this Government. The Prime Minister blamed Labour’s oil and gas ban and said MSD will be on the ground for affected families. Shane Jones said it was ‘enormously disappointing’ and that Juken never asked him for help,” said Mr Maga.

“What’s enormously disappointing is this lack of interest and lack of intervention by a Government that appears to have given up on New Zealand manufacturing altogether.”

“Chris Luxon has referred workers to WINZ and blamed Labour with an irrelevant accusation that has no relation to the problem at hand – that is the sum total of his leadership.”

“Shane Jones, supposedly the Minister for Resources and Regional Development, would have us believe that he is the great champion of the regions and understands the working people of Northland.”

“He shouldn’t need to be asked for help. A skilled Minister keeps an eye on their portfolios and does whatever they can to support local jobs, a value-adding industry and a major employer in the Northland region.”

“But Shane Jones is not a champion of the regions. He is a champion of Shane Jones.”

The proposed closure of the Northland Mill is the latest in a mounting toll under this administration. Since taking office in late 2023, the Government has presided over the loss of Karioi Pulpmill and Tangiwai Sawmill (Ruapehu), Oji Fibre Solutions (Penrose, Auckland), Kinleith paper production line (Tokoroa), Eves Valley Sawmill (Tasman), the Carter Holt Harvey plywood plant (Tokoroa) and now the Northland Mill (Kaitāia).

“More than 800 jobs in wood processing have been lost during the term of the National, NZ First and ACT Government,” said Mr Maga.

“This will forever be remembered as the Government that burnt the wood sector to the ground.”

Shipping our future overseas

Workers First organiser Marcus Coverdale said this week that the Northland and Triboard mills operated as an integrated system, with the full log used between them. Without the sawmill, roughly two-thirds of every log leaving the Far North will go overseas unprocessed, with the value added somewhere else.

“We grow the trees. We own the land. We build the infrastructure. And then we hand the logs to someone else to turn into profit while New Zealand woodworkers sign up for benefits,” said Mr Maga.

“This Government is content to be a raw log exporter. It has no manufacturing strategy, no industrial policy, and apparently no interest in developing one.”

Buy the mill, or at least stop the clock

Workers First is calling on the Government to intervene before the 16 July decision date and to consider temporary public ownership of the Northland Mill while a viable buyer is found.

It would not be the first time New Zealand has intervened in this way. When the rail network had been run into the ground by private owners, the Government bought back the infrastructure for $1 in 2004, then paid $690 million to bring operations fully back into public ownership in 2008. It established a clear principle that some assets are too important to the national interest to be left to market failure.

“The Northland Mill is Kaitāia’s second-largest employer, in a town of 6,000 people where there limited other work. It is the centre of a value chain that, without it, exports raw logs instead of finished products,” said Mr Maga.

“We are not asking for a handout. We are asking for a government that understands that letting this mill close permanently without a fight is a choice, not an inevitability.”

“The consultation window closes on 16 July and there is still time. The question is whether this Government has the will or whether it will keep blaming Labour and wishing these workers good luck at MSD.”