There has been speculation for about a month the Dunedin venison-processing works could close and relocate to the company's Finegand plant in South Otago.
New Zealand Meat Workers Union secretary Dave Eastlake said yesterday he feared the meeting would not bring good news.
"They won't be calling them together to give them a box of chocolates for the off-season," he said.
He spoke to PPCS management yesterday and said he got the same message given before last week's meeting of 466 PPCS Oringi workers in Hawkes Bay, at which the company announced its intention to close.
"They said exactly the same as they said last week - that they will be putting a proposal to workers.
''I think it is unlikely to be good news."
A PPCS spokesman would only confirm that PPCS chief executive Keith Cooper would meet staff at 3pm on Monday to discuss issues.
PPCS was in the middle of a programme, called "right-size", to match processing capacity with livestock availability as it moved to improve its financial position having made a $48 million loss last financial year.
He has said the company also needed to react to declining sheep numbers.
Mr Cooper has made no secret of the fact PPCS is reviewing all its operations, and he said last week that if Oringi was to close, that would complete its North Island review and the focus would then turn to the South Island.
Sources have said the age of the Burnside works and the company's recent $12 million upgrade of its waste-treatment facilities at Finegand made it logical to move its deer operation south.
If Burnside closed, it would be the second Otago business the Dunedin meat co-operative has shut as part of its right-size programme.
Last November, it closed its Windward lambskin business in South Otago with the loss of 25 jobs, but most of the workers were offered work at Finegand.
At the same time, it closed the Te Kauwhata deer-processing plant in the Waikato with the loss of 35 jobs.
It has also recently sold a processing plant in the United Kingdom and closed two overseas offices.
PPCS employs 9000 people nationally, including about 2800 at the peak of the season at seven meat plants south of Timaru, including 1000 at Finegand, 730 at Pareora in South Canterbury, 580 at a lamb-cutting plant in the former Fortex works at Silverstream, North Taieri, and 290 at Waitane, near Gore.
In addition to Burnside, two Southland deer plants each employ 35 people.
Silverstream sources lamb carcases from Pareora and Finegand which are further processed and packaged.
Should Burnside close, it would be almost 20 years since Waitaki, the former owners of what was then a mutton and lamb processing works, closed it with the loss of more than 1000 jobs.
