KiwiRail offers voluntary redundancy to all staff

KiwiRail is offering voluntary redundancy to all staff from Monday.

In an email to all staff, seen by RNZ, KiwiRail chief people and communications officer Andrew Norton said the move was designed to "reshape the business, lower our costs and create a solid footing for future growth".

"In order to keep providing services to New Zealanders and businesses - and to remain competitive - we need to use our resources better and reduce our costs.

"We've already made some changes, but we need to do more."

The transport operator had been proposing job cuts for months in a bid to lower costs, and had previously offered some teams the opportunity to apply for redundancy.

Anyone working on individual or collective contracts could apply, the email said.

Employees had two weeks to apply, and KiwiRail would decide which applications had been accepted around 11 November, the email said.

On 10 October, KiwiRail announced it was proposing to axe more than 50 roles across Interislander's operational staff and head office.

At the time, documents seen by RNZ showed KiwiRail had plans to "right-size its workforce" following the cancellation of the new ferries and the sale of the Valentine, last year.

In September, the state-owned company confirmed it planned to cut all train driver roles at its Napier depot, and another 16 jobs in Palmerston North. That was due to the closure of Winstone Pulp's mills, with its product being transported to those cities by train from the central North Island.

And in July, the Rail and Maritime Transport Union said about two dozen jobs were on the line in the Zero Harm Group, a team of about 80 staff tasked with driving KiwiRail's health and safety performance.

KiwiRail chief executive Peter Reidy said the redundancies were "not an easy decision, but the time is right for us to do things differently".

"Our transformation plan will simplify our operating model and deliver what our customers are asking for - improved reliability, better customer service and greater competitiveness."

But the plan also meant reducing costs, Reidy said.

"The freight and passenger services we run by rail and Interislander must stand on their own feet financially, in line with our shareholder's expectations."

The organisation would work with staff and unions to "look at all options, including redeployment", Reidy said.

Losing people was tough, he said.

"We have a proud culture and a team with a lot of expertise and many loyal long-serving people at KiwiRail."

The Rail and Maritime Transport Union vice president Howard Phillips said it could not understand KiwiRail's decision.

There was no consultation with the union - KiwiRail just advised it planned to call for redundancies, he said.

"We're probably a bit perplexed, to be honest."

The organisation was asking staff to express interest in redundancy without identifying where they could afford to let people go, Phillips said.

"In our view, they're kind of jumping the gun."

The union could not see what KiwiRail's "game plan" was, he said.

"We're saying look, we really think you've got this a bit arse about face.

"Either one of two things is going to happen, they're either going to allow people to go which will affect the running of the day-to-day business, or they're going to have to tell a whole lot of people that they can't go."

Phillips had no idea how many jobs could go and he suspected KiwiRail did not, either.

But there were some teams that could not afford to shed jobs - and if they did, there would be serious implications.

"We wouldn't be able to identify anywhere where they could take track workers out of the business and still be able to maintain the track to a quality which is safe and ensures reliability, which then has an effect on the viability of certain routes," he said.

The same went for train drivers - there was already about the right number of them, and KiwiRail would have to start cancelling trains if they left, Phillips said.

About 3000 of KiwiRail's 4500 staff were members of the Rail and Maritime Transport Union, Phillips said.

RNZ put the union's comments to KiwiRail, but it did not have anything more to say.

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