Economy
Gunns to close Hobart sawmill
GUNNS Limited plans to close down its Austins Ferry sawmill in Hobart with the possible loss of up to 40 jobs.
Forestry union state secretary Scott McLean said about 10 jobs would go at Christmas with another six in March.
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The closure announcement comes after the loss of 35 jobs at the firm’s three woodchip mills and in sales and administration in October.
Gunns took over ITC Hardwood operations, including a mill at Southwood, for $88.5 million in early December.
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Mr McLean said Gunns had pledged to take on displaced staff at any of its operations around Australia.
The union has also called on the Federal Government to fast-track Gunns’ proposed pulp mill so it can employ the hundreds of Tasmanian paper mill workers who will lose their jobs next year.
It also wants the Bell Bay project to be deemed “critically-important nation-building infrastructure”, and the union’s national secretary John Sutton has urged federal Industry Minister Kim Carr to intervene so workers and their paper-making skills remain in Tasmania.