The proposed wage reduction was targeting a $500,000 saving for the 60-year-old company which has been through major restructuring and redundancies during the past two and a-half years, and is facing a severe downturn in work.
Engineering Printing and Manufacturing Union organiser Mike Kirwood said when contacted yesterday an alternative proposal had been ratified on Thursday by the union's almost 100 members in Dunedin and Auckland operations.
It was a "confidential deal" and he was unable to give further details.
The settlement covers eight months until the end of March next year.
Wickliffe general manager of sales and marketing Steve Silvey, who told the Otago Daily Times earlier the proposal was to cut all staff wages beginning August 1, could not comment on the confidential agreement, other than to say Wickliffe "has had good support from the majority of staff".
"It [settlement] has made us stronger and confident in moving forward," he said when asked if some or all the $500,000 savings had been achieved.
Two industry sources, who asked not to be identified, understood Wickliffe staff were not faced with a direct pay cut but had successfully negotiated to instead take a "slight" reduction in work hours over a "relatively short" time frame, but neither management or the union would confirm that.
In April 2006, Wickliffe had 346 staff in Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland.
Following restructuring, Wickliffe now employs about 70 people in Dunedin and its Mosgiel distribution centre, with the balance of 220 in Auckland.
