Dec 15, 2004. /Lesprom Network/. Carter Holt Harvey confirmed that it had moved to protect the high-cost Myrtleford sawmill from industrial action that would further erode the site’s competitiveness. In the morning of Wednesday December 15th employees from the Myrtleford sawmill left their posts and were subsequently directed not to return to work. Facility Manager Mike Bitzer said he was disappointed that some employees had chosen to stop work, but the company respected people’s choice to take lawful industrial action. “The most important thing on everyone’s plate right now should be the competitiveness of the Myrtleford mill. Rolling stoppages are a double negative for the site – we’re being asked to pay high wages and yet receive none of the production benefits.” “As a result, those participating in stoppages are lawfully being directed not to return to work and will not be paid for the remainder of their shift. We believe this is a reasonable position and one that has been well communicated to employees so they can make an informed decision about their involvement.” Mike reinforced that this position was only ever implemented as a response to industrial action. Those employees who make themselves available for the whole shift are provided meaningful work and full pay. “We know how important this mill is to the community and are completely focused on improving its competitiveness for the longer term,” he said. “We know that more jobs will be at risk if we can’t compete with lower-cost mills, so are running a number of on-site programs to improve our operational performance – we’re already seeing positive results. We can't understand why the union won't support this activity and call on them to work with us for the site’s benefit.” Carter Holt Harvey also reinforced that the union could not direct the distribution of company funds, even if it was to support a worthy cause. “The CFMEU is unfortunately using a worthy charity as a smokescreen to distract attention from the real issue of the site’s competitiveness. Since we began enterprise bargaining negotiations back in March, we’ve shared with the union commercial-in-confidence data that proves the site pays among the highest wages and is the highest cost producer of structural timber.” “Our decision last week to rebalance production of structural timber across our lower-cost sites was not taken lightly by the company. We would prefer to work constructively with the union to minimise the number of resulting redundancies. Ongoing industrial action is counter-productive, further eroding the site’s competitiveness and therefore employment security.”