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Story: Unions and employee organisations

Challenging the Pātea freezing works closure

Video file

In 1982 the freezing works in the small Taranaki town of Pātea was shut down by its owners. This was just one of a long series of similar factory closures during the 1980s, which threw thousands of manufacturing and processing staff out of work. This TV news clip shows how the Pātea people came together to try and fight for the survival of their town’s biggest industry. However, they were unsuccessful.

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TVNZ Television New Zealand

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How to cite this page

Erik Olssen, Unions and employee organisations – Unions after 1960, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/video/22287/challenging-the-patea-freezing-works-closure (accessed 16 June 2026).

Story by Erik Olssen, published 4 February 2010.

Comments

Jenny cooper
18 July 2016
Does any one know of a man called Greg Thompson or Thomson he would of been about 20 in the late 60s