Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) organiser in Timaru, John Gardner, yesterday said the company would put its proposals to union delegates at a meeting today, which would be followed by a stopwork meeting with staff to outline the proposals.
It was not known yesterday what "workplace changes" the company would suggest, and today's meeting represented "the very beginning of the consultation phase", Mr Gardner said.
"We need to see what the proposal says," Mr Gardner said when asked if it was likely to include redundancies.
"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out."
Summit Wool's 250 employees have been working reduced hours since Christmas because of a downturn in orders. Staff suspect further redundancies.
In 2009, hours were reduced because of a lack of orders, followed by making 60 of 315 staff redundant, mainly through volunteers, and using the Government's nine-day working fortnight scheme as an option to minimise further job losses.
Last week, Summit production manager Phillip Howe said all options were being reviewed and employee representatives would be consulted before announcing further details.
However, Mr Howe ruled out closure of the plant as an option.
