"Dispirited" Hillside Engineering workers are in the "ridiculous" position of having to convince parent company KiwiRail they should build freight wagons of a type they have already built, the Rail and Maritime Transport Union says.
The workshop this year built 35 flat-top wagons of a kind KiwiRail wants to replace its ageing freight wagon fleet but it has to compete with other companies to build 300 more, union general secretary Wayne Butson said yesterday.
"Look, if I was in a government that earmarked $750 million [in the Budget] for rail, I'm damn sure I would want to see as much of that money as possible staying in the country," Mr Butson said.
"The wagons can be made here - they have been made here - but KiwiRail continues on this ridiculous path of putting to tender a job that it could do itself, and that's dispiriting workers and threatens to send more work overseas."
KiwiRail has asked for expressions of interest for the supply of 300 flat-top wagons in what is likely to be the first step of a staged plan to replace 3000 of its ageing freight wagon fleet.
KiwiRail chief executive Jim Quinn yesterday said the workshops would bid for the work and the bid would be examined alongside any others.
He confirmed Hillside built 35 of the wagons this year, and said the experience would help the KiwiRail-owned workshops develop a bid based on recent costings.
Asked why Hillside had to make a bid at all, Mr Quinn said KiwiRail wanted to be sure it was competitive and that the Government's investment in Project Turnaround realised value for money.
He had faith KiwiRail's Dunedin and Lower Hutt workshops could carry out the work, but KiwiRail needed to be commercial and ensure it got the best possible deal.
That meant running a robust tender process, and measuring KiwiRail's own operations alongside those of other suppliers, Mr Quinn said.
KiwiRail needed 300 wagons by July to ensure wagon availability did not become a "limiting factor" to its growth.
The process would consider whether suppliers were likely to meet that deadline, Mr Quinn confirmed.
Mr Butson said if KiwiRail companies needed to tender for KiwiRail contracts at all, tendering rules needed to be changed to give preference to having the wagons built in New Zealand.
KiwiRail was worried about the availability of wagons limiting growth, but it should also be concerned about retaining the workforce it needed to be competitive, he said.
If attractive new building work went overseas, experienced engineers would leave.
Mr Butson's concerns mirrored those expressed in May when KiwiRail decided not to have Hillside Engineering submit a tender for part of its $500 million contract to supply electric trains in Auckland.
