Imperial Tobacco plans to close Petone factory

Wednesday, 22 January 2020

Tobacco products have been made at the site of Imperial Tobacco's Petone factory for a century. (File photo)

The union representing workers at Imperial Tobacco NZ says it is working with them but it will not comment until a final decision has been made next month.

The company has announced plans to close its factory in Lower Hutt , which would axe 122 jobs.

Cigarettes roll off the production line at Imperial Tobacco NZ's Petone factory. (File photo)

E tū, which represents 82 workers at the plant, said the company was consulting with workers and a final decision would be made on February 13.

'We are meeting with our members to guide them through the process and working with the company to ensure our people are well-looked after,' organiser, Damon Rongotaua said.

**READ MORE:

Imperial Tobacco spent $45m to future proof the Petone factory in 2012, as seen here with Lower Hutt mayor Ray Wallace, (right) and factory manager Mike McInnarney. (File photo)

* Cigarette factory fires up

* Government legalises e-cigarettes in effort to make New Zealand smokefree by 2025

* Vaping is 'a real danger' and needs regulation

Jonathan Devery from Vapo. An amendment to the Smokefree Environment Act to control how vaping can be advertised is expected to go before Parliament next month.

* The tipping point: why New Zealand is being flooded with smuggled cigarettes**

However, Lower Hutt mayor Campbell Barry said the proposal would be devastating for the affected workers.

'They are people who have bills to pay and it's not a good time for them.'

He was confident many of the workers would be able to find jobs locally and remain in Lower Hutt.

Barry said the Hutt City Council had not been forewarned of the proposed closure and it was seeking more information about the situation.

Imperial Tobacco said the move had followed a global review by its parent company, Imperial Brands, of all its factory footprints.

However, the company is also moving towards 'smoke-free' products like e-cigarettes.

A spokeswoman, Louise Evans McDonald, said Imperial had owned the factory since the late 1990s, but the site itself had been used for making tobacco products since 1919, initially under the name WD & HO Wills.

Imperial's products, which include JPS, Riverstone and Horizon, will remain on the market but be imported from overseas.

Imperial is not the only cigarette company adapting to customer trends. Its rival Philip Morris International has also said it will move towards a 'smoke-free future,' in time replacing cigarettes with smoke-free products such as vaping devices.

Kirsten Daggar-Nickson, a spokeswoman for Imperial Brands, the New Zealand company's parent, said the proposed closure reflected the global decline in demand for tobacco products.

The company was working to support the affected workers, the majority of whom are involved in manufacturing, she said.

The Petone factory predominantly supplies Imperial Tobacco's products to the Australasian market, and is the company's only factory in New Zealand or Australia.

Daggar-Nickson said if the Petone plant were to close, production would be taken up by the company's factory in Taiwan.

She expected a decision would be made on the plant in late February or early March.