About 100 jobs at the Tiwai aluminum smelter are expected to go during the next 5 years. However, the smelter manager says these will be through natural attrition and not redundancies.

Mr Ryan Cavanagh GM of Tiwai confirmed that the positions would go by natural attrition. The Tiwai site usually lost about 50 people a year, with many leaving for higher-paying positions in Australia or retiring. Staff were told in November those positions would not be filled.

Mr Cavanagh said that "We have been talking to employees. People want clarity. We don't do lay offs. The smelter was always looking at ways of improving the way it worked and the announcement had been a continuation of cost-effective measures taken.”

He said that the number of people leaving their positions had not increased since the announcement was made.

(Sourced from www.stuff.co.nz)