Kraft Heinz owned Wattie’s has confirmed the 70 redundancies that were made at its Hastings Plants. The confirmation follows an announcement that the company made earlier this year that stated that Heinz would be reducing staff at both its King Street and Tomoana Road sites in the town.
Phil Knight manufacturing and food industry coordinator from the E tu union told the Herald that “while the union was sad to see any redundancies, in this instance, the company had made the best of a bad situation.”
The company will still be employing over 700 seasonal staff this year during its peak summer period. Heinz Wattie’s is New Zealand’s largest processor of seasonal fruit and vegetables, processing crops such as plums, peaches, pears, boysenberries, tomatoes and beetroot.
