Workers at the Hillside engineering workshops in Dunedin are increasingly nervous as they continue to wait for news on its sale, the Rail and Maritime Union says.
KiwiRail put the workshops on sale in May and had planned to announce a sale decision at the end of August.
However, it was still in negotiations over the sale, communications manager Kimberly Brady said yesterday.
"We said at our AGM that we hope to have a decision in coming weeks."
She declined to elaborate, saying that was the nature of negotiations.
Union general secretary Wayne Butson said workers were becoming increasingly anxious as every week passed without any certainty concerning the future of Hillside.
"For workers, it feels like anything but business as usual."
Although workers wanted potential buyers to have time to make a decision about investing in Hillside, what was missing from KiwiRail was any communication about progress, he said.
KiwiRail chief executive Jim Quinn said last night he understood the process had been hard on the team at Hillside.
"We are trying to work through the sale process as quickly as possible, while also ensuring we can negotiate the best solution we can."
Mr Butson said the union would work with any buyer to make a success of Hillside but it was "lamentable" KiwiRail was selling Hillside in the first place.
