NDU finally complete sought after merger.

The Warehouse and the National Distribution Union (NDU), representing more than 2000 of its employees, has yet to finalise employment contracts in the wake of December’s industrial action.

NDU spokesperson Bill Bradford told NBR the new contracts proposed by The Warehouse had not been “ratified” by its members but that the union would encourage them to sign it.

Mr Bradford said the union and the company had reached an agreement but whether it would be a successful outcome depended on the members.

Iconic clothing manufacturer Lane Walker Rudkin will lay off its remaining staff and shut down before Christmas, the union representing the company’s workers said today.

The company has about 80 workers remaining after laying off more than 140 since it went into receivership in April.

LWR is now being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office after receivers BDO Spicers raised a red flag.

According to BDO Spicers, the LWR group “had misrepresented its financial strength to Westpac in order to borrow more money from the bank.”

The Government will not be intervening in an industrial dispute between Telecom and engineers over planned changes to their work arrangements.

The National Distribution Union yesterday said that Labour Minister Kate Wilkinson had cancelled a meeting with its representatives.

They claimed this was due to her office saying Ms Wilkinson could not meet with any union, even if they were not associated with the strike, while the action was going on.

The New Zealand Manufacturers and Exporters Association today reiterated its call for changes to monetary policy, blaming the high dollar for further declines in the productive sector.

The latest NZMEA Survey of Business Conditions showed total sales in June decreased by 6% compared to June 2008.

Exporters bore the brunt of this change – export sales dropped by 19% from last June while domestic sales actually increased by 3%.

However, net confidence was the best in a year, increasing to -27 from -58 in May.