Newspaper Article 1994 – Seven jobs go in Turners revamp

Seven jobs go in Turners revamp

By Anna Peacock
Staff reporter, Hastings

Turners and Growers’ Napier fresh-produce market closed yesterday and seven of its workers lost their jobs.

The closure is part of a restructuring move by Turners and Growers to centralise its Hawke’s Bay sales in Hastings.

Hastings will become a branch of the company’s regional base in Palmerston North.

The manager of the Hastings market for 26 years, Tony Toscano, has taken early retirement.

Another four staff in Hastings have lost their jobs, bringing the total number of redundancies in Hawke’s Bay to 10, which includes seven part-time workers.

Former manager of the Napier market Kevin Tohill will head the Hawke’s Bay branch in Hastings which will employ 28 people, including seven who have transferred from Napier.

Turners and Growers’ Whangarei manager Derek van der Kwaak, who was in Hastings yesterday in a support role, said staff were shocked at the redundancies, but their morale was “not too bad”.

There had been speculation for some weeks of redundancies and closures. Staff had been expecting changes, Mr van der Kwaak said.

The move to centralise Hawke’s Bay sales and make Hastings a branch was sensible. It created a better economy scale, he said.

“We still see value in a local approach in Hawke’s Bay, but work such as administration can now all be done through Palmerston North on one computer.”

The company had valued the work of Tony Toscano, who was a colourful character and a corporate identity, Mr van der Kwaak said.

Turners and Growers announced yesterday that 120 of its 1000 staff throughout the North Island had lost their jobs.

Small produce markets in Hawera, Masterton, Wanganui and Napier would close, along with its produce market Radley and Co in Mount Wellington, Auckland.

The restructuring follows a difficult financial year for the company which announced a $l-million loss in its most recent half-yearly report.

Turners and Growers’ managing director Don Turner said the restructuring was necessary. It had given the company a more co-ordinated national structure.

“It not only makes us leaner and more efficient, it also fundamentally changes the way we do business,” Mr Turner said.

“Over the 100 years of our history, Turners and Grower has led the way as the main auction wholesale of fresh produce and flowers in New Zealand,” he said.

But during the past few years the produce industry had changed dramatically, Mr Turner said.

Turners and Growers main aim had once been to get produce from growers to the market. Now the focus was on providing the service, quality and consistency demanded by the customer.

The company was creating a new division called Pacific Produce to handle imported produce and certain domestic products, such as apples, pears and some prepackaged lines.

Photo caption – The empty loading bays at Turners and Growers in Napier today.

Move logical, say growers

Hawke’s Bay vegetable growers see Turners and Growers’ move to centralise Hawke’s Bay fresh produce sales as logical.

Past chairman of the Hawke’s Bay Vegetable Association Mike Bravenboer said today growers had been expecting rationalisation.

Growers applauded moves to get fresher produce to the customer and reduce the amount of handling and its cost, Mr Bravenboer said.

Hawke’s Bay growers would no longer have to make two trips to get their product sold at the markets, he said.

The move to Hastings would make it difficult for some Napier retailers. But many already came to Hastings.

New technology with faxes and cellphones meant a buyer could source produce from anywhere, Mr Bravenboer said.

Freight costs were now cheaper and produce would arrive the same day it was bought, he said.