The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union is consulting with Christchurch-based manufacturer General Cable after the American-owned company announced it plans to lay off nearly a third of its workforce.

The redundancies, which are a result of the company merging some operations and sending some overseas, are not due until next year.

EPMU assistant national secretary Ged O'Connell says General Cable has been forthright about the job losses.

"While redundancies are never easy we've seen a good degree of openness from the company and decent forewarning for our members which means they've got time to find new work.

"Between this and other losses in the region such as the Bridgestone closure, Christchurch manufacturing has taken a hammering but we're hopeful that the effects of the recession will have lifted and the job market improved by the time these jobs go.

"As always, we'll be using our networks of employers to try to find our members new jobs and together with assistance from the company we are fairly confident these skilled workers will find new work.

"Fortunately our members have previously negotiated a pretty good redundancy clause which will help them with the transition into new work."

The EPMU is New Zealand's largest private sector union, representing 45,000 working New Zealanders across eleven industries.