Fears that more jobs could be axed has been prompted by Silver Fern Farms' decision to call a meeting tomorrow morning of meatworkers at one of its two Belfast Street, Christchurch, plants.
"They've called the workers together at 10.30am - and there'll be a briefing for union officials before that," Meat Workers' Union spokesman Dave Eastlake said tonight.
The meeting will be at the former PPCS meat cooperative's lamb, mutton and veal plant which employs about 445 staff at the peak of the season.
It is over the road from the company's Belfast cattle slaughterhouse which has about 275 staff at the peak of the season.
Silver Fern has said it is rationalising operations at its meatworks.
It expects there to be three million fewer lambs available for slaughter in the South Island next summer and autumn, in the wake of land converted to dairying and lower lambing numbers after last autumn's drought.
Last week it told 300 workers at its Silverstream lamb cutting plant near Mosgiel that it will sell that plant and lease back two cutting rooms for a smaller operation.
The company's works at Waitane (near Gore), Finegand (near Balclutha) and Pareora (near Timaru) would cut up more of their own lambs.
Silver Fern Farms has already quit ownership of its Dunedin head office and overseas businesses and offices, closed deer processing plants at Burnside and the Waikato, the Oringi sheep meat plant in the Hawke's Bay and a lambskin processing business in Balclutha, axing over 600 jobs so far.
It is pursuing a $200m investment by rural service company PGG-Wrightson, part of which would be used to use more robotics in processing.
