Wellington, April 20 NZPA - Unions are calling for more companies to join the Government's nine-day fortnight scheme and for it to be expanded as Oamaru-based Summit Wool Spinners confirms it has signed up.

The company said today it had signed an agreement with the Ministry of Social Development which saves 57 jobs.

The company, which is owned by Japan's Sumitomo Corporation, has cut its workforce by 50.

"We want to thank all our employees for their willingness to help the company through this time and we recognise that they had to be flexible in how they worked to ensure production remained efficient," said Wool Spinners director Ricky Hammond-Tooke.

"Some employees have had to change shifts and hours of work as well."

The nine-day fortnight came out of the Government's Job Summit. The Government has said 21 companies are interested. About 117 jobs have been saved by the first three employers to join the scheme.

The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) and National Distribution Union (NDU) said the nine-day fortnight initiative was saving jobs.

"More companies should look at the scheme as an alternative to redundancies," said NDU president Robert Reid.

The Government should look at expanding the scheme so firms with fewer than 100 workers can apply, he said.

EPMU national secretary Andrew Little welcomed the Government's approval of the nine-day fortnight proposal at Summit Wool Spinners but said there was not enough funding for training of workers when they had time off during the scheme. This was a lost opportunity.

Last month a nine-day fortnight was negotiated at Fisher & Paykel Appliances for its Auckland refrigeration assembly workforce.

Under the agreement at Fisher & Paykel, the 35-hour work week will be supplemented with an additional 3.5 hours pay, made up from the Government's nine-day working fortnight scheme and an equivalent company contribution.

The remaining 1.5 hours per week could be taken as paid leave to ensure continuity of wage levels. As part of the scheme, employees would attend a company-funded in-house training programme to increase their skills for 3.5 hours each fortnight.

Summit Wool Spinners acknowledged the practical help it had received from the Otago Southland Employers' Association in Dunedin in negotiating the agreement and from the EPMU and NDU.

"This agreement will help us weather the difficult times ahead and enable us to make realistic plans to see us through the recession as we currently understand it," said Mr Hammond-Tooke.

Last November shifts at the plant were reduced from 12 hours to 10 hours in response to downturn in orders.

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