Human Resource Strategies in the New Zealand Clothing Manufacturing Industry

Abstract

The clothing industry has been, and remains, an important employer in New Zealand. Women make up the majority of employees in the industry 1 , and factories are often located in rural communities (Young, 1988). The size of companies varies greatly, fron1 the fe,v "heavyweights" like Lane Walker Rudkin (L WR), admittedly n1ade up of 15 subsidiary firms, who employ over I ,000 people around the country2 , down to tiny operations with less than 10 employees. These smaller companies make up the bulk of the 700-800 fitnls that Murray Rae3 estimat~es make up the industry. In February 1989, 91 percent of factories in the apparel industry employed less than 50 workers, with 48 percent of factories employing less than 10 (Tripartite Working Party on an Active Labour Market Policy for the Apparel Industry, 1989). Many of the smaller fi1rns are known as CMTs (Cut Make and Trim), and act purely as contractors to designers and other manufacturers.