Seven redundant as Whitestone Contracting trims staff
Cuts in roading subsidies and the general economic recession have led to Whitestone Contacting Ltd making seven staff redundant.
The company, wholly owned by the Waitaki District Council, carried out a review of staff in January, with a resulting five redundancies and two others taking voluntary redundancy, managing director Lawrence Hardy said yesterday.
Rumours that 18 staff had lost their jobs were unfounded.
Whitestone has roading maintenance contracts for the Waitaki, Waimate and Mackenzie District Councils, as well as bidding for contracting work.
The reduction in roading subsidies paid to councils by the New Zealand Transport Agency had affected the contracting industry throughout New Zealand and Whitestone was no exception.
The economic downturn had also affected work available to contractors, Mr Hardy said.
The majority of redundancies were in the roading division.
Mr Hardy said the company and no plans for further redundancies in other areas, but was reviewing all its operations.
Whitestone is one of North Otago's major employers.
In its last annual report, it said it had 169 staff, of which 106 were in the Waitaki district with the others based in the Waimate and Mackenzie districts.
Since its formation in 1991, when it was changed from a council works department into a council-owned company, it had paid out more than $4 million in sponsorships to the council and other groups.
It is the major sponsor of Centennial Park's sporting stadium and paid $100,000 for naming rights of the Opera House auditorium.
Last financial year, the company recorded a $311,149 deficit after paying $1.4 million to the council and more than $134,000 in donations and sponsorships.
