Rebecca Gordon worked for Canterbury Spinners for seventeen years before being laid off as a result of earthquake damage.

Now she is employed on a nine month government funded project as a redundancy support co-ordinator.

The funding for the job was granted by the Ministry of Social Development after an application from the NDU.

Rebecca provides support to the laid off workers by helping with CV preparation, identifying job vacancies, and discussing options for change or how to gain new skills that might help in the search for employment.

Rebecca says about 140 of the 200 workers have found work of some sort–85 of them have got permanent jobs and the remainder have temporary contracts.

“Other textile mills have upped production because of Canterbury Spinners closing down so about 50 workers have ended up back in the textile industry with a new employer,” she said.

Rebecca said some of the workers who have not found jobs are starting to get a bit desperate and others had haken a dramatic reduction in wages.

“Most of the Canterbury Spinners workers had been there a long time. Probably the shortest time was 5 years.  This meant they had worked their way up and were being paid around $15–16. Having to start again and be paid $13 an hour is a blow for them.”

Rebecca has a bit of advice for workers still in employment based on her recent experience.

“If you get offered the chance to upskill by your employer, seize the opportunity because you never know when you might need it.” she said.

(Source: National Distribution Union)