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Rachel Mackintosh: Etū National Secretary on the aluminium sector warning of job losses after govt declines request for safeguards · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Concerns for the aluminium industry after the government rejected protection
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: against cheap imports. The imports are up 34% this year,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: while local production is down more than 40%. The industry
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: says over a thousand manufacturing jobs are at risk. So
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: I have with me the ETU National Secretary, Rachel McIntosh. Hello, Rachel.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Gilda, good morning.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Why did the government say they won't protect the industry?
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: They just say they don't know whether this will last.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: So they've been told very clearly by MBIE that the
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: industry is under huge pressure and at risk and being
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: damaged by really cheap imports that come in at below
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: or at what the raw material alone costs local manufacturers.
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: So that's just impossible to compete with. And the reason
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: for that is, and the reason for those cheap prices
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: is that They are being subsidised by the governments where
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: they are made.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Do you think the government is being naive and thinking
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: this is just a blip?
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: I don't know what the government's thinking, but what they're
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: doing is hearing that local manufacturing is being damaged and
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: just walking away. It sounds more ideological than naive to me,
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: that they just do not believe in looking after local people,
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: local jobs and local industry.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: Well, tell me about the aluminium industry. How many jobs
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: are at risk?
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: So there's more than a thousand. And in Hamilton, New
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: Plymouth and Wellington. So, you know, I mean, Wellington's obviously
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: a big city, but they're all cities. But in regional
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: New Zealand, where it's really vital that we keep regional
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: New Zealand alive.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: So, of course, the worst thing that could happen is
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: that we see plants shutting down. Are we close to that?
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: No. Don't know that we're close to that at this stage,
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: but certainly with the 40% decrease, there's a huge amount
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: of pressure. So it could happen, and these things can
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: happen quite quickly when the economics just don't work.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: And have you talked to any other politicians, any other parties,
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: about what they might do to protect the aluminium industry?
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: I haven't had a chance to do that, but just
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: calling on all parties to have a look at that,
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: to revisit this after the election. Get a new government.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: We really want them to look at this. All we're
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: asking for is a temporary pause on imports. And that's doable.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: Indy has given the advice that there's damage being done
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: at the moment. And so asking politicians to understand what
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: happens when we lose industry. When we lose industry in
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: this country, we don't get it back. And communities are
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: really damaged, you know. A thousand jobs affects way more
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: than a thousand people.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: Of course it does. Rachel McIntosh, I thank you for
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: your time today. Rachel is the National Secretary of the ETU.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live
• 3:09
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• 3:13
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