Redundancy numbers at Sanford fish factory in Bluff confirmed by union

Tuesday, 10 February 2026

Twelve workers have been made redundant at the Sanford fish processing factory in Bluff, E tū union says.

The union earlier said Sanford had called for voluntary redundancies and had proposed that 11 workers be made redundant at the plant where 57 E tū members were employed.

This month, the union said the final figure made redundant was 12 people.

Sanford managing director David Mair declined to comment on Monday, but when the redundancies were proposed in November he 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 … we called for voluntary redundancies because this is a site issue, not just a direct labour issue.”

It was unclear how many of the 12 had volunteered for redundancy.

The union had expressed disappointment at the redundancy proposal in November, with E tū director Georgie Dansey noting news reports showing Sanford had made a $63.7m after-tax profit on revenue of $584m in the year to September 2025.

A big player in marine farming of fish and shellfish, when Sanford’s profit was announced, Mair said its businesses farming salmon and mussels had exceeded expectations.

In 2019 Sanford also made 17 workers redundant at its Bluff fish processing factory, when moving its white-fish operations to Timaru.