Fonterra has confirmed 80 finance jobs will be cut at its London St office in Hamilton’s CBD.
The roles, “many” of which are vacant, would be disestablished as part of a restructure, chief financial officer Andrew Murray told the Waikato Times in a statement.
The farmer-owned dairy co-op will be outsourcing work to its existing partner Accenture accounting firm, which has offices in the Philippines and India.
Murray said they acknowledge there would be some “role impacts”, and they would be supporting those affected into new roles that are being created.
“There are new positions being created within the Fonterra service hub, now and further down the track, as we continue to develop an efficient shared-services model for Fonterra.”
A staff member affected by the changes told the Waikato Times a “handful” of jobs had been created within the finance team for staff to apply for, but in the current circumstances, they were not sure if they would be applying, saying it would be a “difficult environment”.
They said staff were told in a meeting last week the proposed changes were going ahead and would be completed by the end of the year.
“We’re all going.
“It’s all done and dusted.”
They said the staff impacted would be responsible for training their Manilla and Bangalore-based replacements, starting next week.
“You have to train people to do your job.
“No-one can believe it’s happening.”
They said it’s the first time they’d heard of outsourcing happening at this scale.
“Banks do things like that.”
The staffer said the Hamilton-based staff, some coming from farming backgrounds, can’t believe the farmers would allow it.
“Is that the spirit of the co-op, to send jobs offshore?”
“Shouldn’t it be to build up New Zealand?”
But farmers say it’s out of their hands.
Mathew Zonderop, Waikato sharemilker and provincial dairy chair for Federated Farmers, said while the decision was “brutal”, farmer shareholders understood it was an operational matter and not something they had a say in.
“It’s a Fonterra operational issue.
“Unfortunately that’s the way the co-op works.”
He said Fonterra is doing what farmer shareholders expect of them as a business.
“If it means more money in their back pocket, they’re not going to question it.”
He said while he doesn’t agree with the decision to outsource jobs overseas, it’s the way that many businesses are going.
“It’s something we’ve got no control over anymore.”
Fonterra said they had engaged farmer shareholders throughout the process, and recognise the role they play as a major employer in communities across the country.
They said they did not “take decisions like this lightly”.
You can now read the most important #news on #eDairyNews #Whatsapp channels!!!
🇺🇸 eDairy News INGLÊS: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaKsjzGDTkJyIN6hcP1K
