KiwiRail workers in Dunedin anxious about future

Workers at Dunedin’s Hillside engineering workshops are becoming increasingly anxious about the fate of their worksite, the rail union said today.

Earlier this month KiwiRail told the Otago Daily Times that delays in the proposed sale of Hillside had not affected work at Hillside.

“While it is the case that the delays have not affected the rail projects on the books at Hillside, it is most certainly affecting the workforce,” said Wayne Butson, General Secretary of the Rail & Maritime Transport Union.

“For workers, it feels like anything but business as usual.”

“As every week passes without any certainly around the future of Hillside, our members get increasingly nervous. While workers of course want potential buyers to have the time to make their decision about investing in Hillside, what is missing from KiwiRail is any communication about progress.”

Hillside was put up for sale in May and Wayne Butson said the union would work with any buyer to make a success of the place, including the retention of its highly skilled staff.

“Hillside workshops made too important a contribution to Dunedin to be closed. Our union has a track record of working with new buyers of rail assets, as occurred with with Tranz Rail and Toll, and it will be no different at Hillside.”

Wayne Butson said it was lamentable that KiwiRail was in the position of selling Hillside in the first place.

He said if stronger government procurement provisions were in place, as being actively promoted by Opposition parties including Labour, the Greens and NZ First, then Hillside may be in a much stronger position.

ENDS