Concern for workers as Sanford calls for voluntary redundancies at Bluff factory
Thursday, 13 November 2025
Seafood company Sanford has called for voluntary redundancies at its Bluff processing factory, raising concerns for the future of the workers.
The company’s managing director David Mair said there had been a change in customer demand for its salmon processed through the factory.
“This change in demand means we must consider making changes to our staffing.
“At this stage we are at the beginning of a process to work through the appropriate level of staffing,” he said in a statement from Japan.
“We called for voluntary redundancies because this is a site issue, not just a direct labour issue.”
E tū director Georgie Dansey said its union had 57 members working at Sanford’s Bluff factory, but she did not know how many could be affected.
“It’s a smallish town, it’s going to have a big effect on workers if there are mass redundancies, so we are very concerned.”
The union was seeking more information on Thursday, she said.
“We have got a lot of E tū members working there that will be affected by this and we need to know what the process is, why redundancies are being called for, what are the reasons, and how many people it’s going to affect.”
Bluff Community Board member Ray Fife said he understood the workers were told of the voluntary redundancy proposal at a meeting on Wednesday.
Workers at the factory lived in both Bluff and Invercargill, he said.
“It’s a bit concerning, there’s a cost of living crisis, unemployment is high and it’s difficult to find jobs right now, and in a small town it’s even harder.
“Some of the workers will struggle to find alternative employment, particularly at this time of year leading up to Christmas. It will be a worry for those workers.”
He indicated there was always a domino effect when workers lost jobs.
“Businesses rely on people with cash to spend, and without a job you haven’t got the cash.”
More would be known when the company revealed the number of redundancies it was considering, Fife said.
In 2019 Sanford made 17 workers redundant at its Bluff processing factory, when moving its white-fish operations to Timaru.