It is puzzling that this Government can break the rules - or at least create new ones - to allow films to be made in Wellington, or facilitate the growth of gambling in Auckland, yet it will not lift a finger to protect jobs and safeguard the future of an important national engineering industry in Dunedin.
Jim Childerstone has trouble with the maths and the logic of the proposed Hillside lay-offs.
KiwiRail will axe 40 jobs at its Hillside workshops in Dunedin as it makes changes that will see it switch from building rail units to maintaining its foreign-built locomotives and wagons.
Completion of new KiwiRail wagons, constructed at Dunedin's Hillside Engineering, has renewed calls from the Rail Maritime Transport Union for contracts to continue for New Zealand workers rather than out-sourcing to China.
Hillside Workshop employees will launch a publicity campaign alongside the Rail and Maritime Transport Union to garner support for a bid to try to overturn a KiwiRail decision to cut 40 jobs at the South Dunedin engineering "institution".
Proposed job cuts at Hillside Workshops, in the wake of KiwiRail's decision to reduce its mechanical business operations in Dunedin, would hurt the city's engineering industry.
Chinese-built railway wagons destined for New Zealand could be left stranded port-side as unions consider a protest against KiwiRail's decision to cut 70 industry jobs.
An American rail magnate keen to invest in New Zealand's rail network says KiwiRail's decision to spend $500 million on Chinese-built locomotives could have lasting implications for the industry's economy and skill base.
Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei yesterday renewed her attack on the Government and KiwiRail for awarding $500 million of work to overseas contractors.
KiwiRail wants inland freight ports back on the Otago regional transport agenda as it pushes for a larger share of New Zealand's domestic freight market.
The future of Hillside Workshops could be in doubt if indications KiwiRail intends to buy more than 2000 railway wagons from China turn out to be true.
KiwiRail freight services in Christchurch resumed normal service today following last month's devastating quake, though the company is asking those concerned by the noise and vibrations to contact its call centre.
A meeting to organise a campaign to ensure New Zealand rail stock is built in New Zealand has demanded the cancellation of a contract that dealt a major blow to Dunedin's Hillside Workshops. Spokesman for the newly formed Kiwi Wagons for KiwiRail campaign, Victor Billot, said the goal was the cancellation of a contract given to China CNR Corporation to build the first 300 of 3000 container flatdeck wagons to replace KiwiRail's ageing fleet. The state-owned company awarded the estimated $29 million contract to the Chinese company last year, prompting criticism and disappointment among supporters and employees at the Dunedin workshop.
A fresh wrangle has broken out over ownership of a dilapidated pedestrian footbridge in Ravensbourne, amid fears the old structure could once again be facing demolition.
An uncontrolled Taranaki rail crossing where a woman died yesterday was high on Kiwi Rail's priority list for installing flashing lights - something locals have been calling for over the past 20 years.
Railway wagons built in China and bound for New Zealand's railway network may end up gathering dust at a New Zealand port if the Maritime Union carries out its threat not to unload the ships on which they arrive.
The Government has already committed $750 million to help KiwiRail and it would be hard to argue it should follow that up with a subsidy to build its wagons, Transport Minister Steven Joyce says.
Hillside Engineering workers do not believe the Chinese company contracted to build KiwiRail's new wagons will get the job done on time, Rail and Maritime Transport Union national president Jim Kelly says.
Engineering businesses warn any hit to KiwiRail's Hillside Engineering workshops will hurt Otago's economy as unions vow to stand alongside workers worried about their future.
Social networks Twitter and Facebook could play a part in pushing the case for the Hillside Engineering Group Dunedin workshops to build flat-deck wagons for its owner KiwiRail.
