Ford Australia cutting even more jobs
October 15, 2008 by George Skentzos
Ford Australia has confirmed it will significantly slash even more jobs at its Victorian plants in the wake of poor sales performance.
Jobs will be cut across all divisions, including engineering, administration, product design, marketing and manufacturing.
This is seen as a cost cutting measure following Ford’s decision to slow production of its six-cylinder models by up to 25 percent, which will also result in the loss of a further 350 jobs at its Geelong and Broadmeadows plants in November.
This is only the beginning, with the company currently conducting a review into its operations to see where further associated costs can be reduced.
As it currently stands, around 4,700 people are employed at the company’s Victorian operations, split almost evenly between manufacturing workers and administration roles.
“We have told employees there will be voluntary separations on top of the 300 to 350 jobs being cut in manufacturing,” said company spokeswoman Sinead McAlary.
Because the review into the matter is not yet complete, Ms McAlary would not comment on the exact number of jobs which were likely to go, however Fairfax media has reported it could be as high as 500 workers.
Source: News.com.au
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Realcars, the unfortunate thing is the PROTECTION given to the workers by the Unions. Look at Holdens forcomming downtime, the unions are demanding that the workers are paid leave bonuses and extras to keep their income correct. Whilst I would rather not see anyone drop their income, the plain simple truth is if they have to pay more money for not working then the inevitable arrives sooner and then the Unions will have protected the workers right out of a job.
Unions have their place, but when they price their member out of a job, then something is wrong. The Awu in the US fought to get their member life long health benefits and retirement plans etc, now thos companies are folding before their eyes. Do they care? yes they want money put aside to protect those retired workers health plans. To hell with their current members, they can loose their jobs.
Frontman your point about unions is a valid one.They do go too far sometimes and for the wrong reasons.
This adversarial approach is unfortunately a hallmark of our Industry in general and is much the fault of management as it is of unions. Conservative governments have chosen to union bash instead of rallying workers for the greater good of the country. If they and management had of instead focused on this then union power would have been diminished substantially.
I know that talent and effort needs to be rewarded but exec salaries/perks have been obscene in the Western world, largely thks to the yanks,and it is difficult to get the rank and file to toe the line when this is constantly rubbed in their faces.
Regarding unions – anyone seen the strikes in WA by the loco drivers? These guys are on $160K+ per year, with $20K+ bonuses – and they went on strike for one shift, demanding their conditions and jobs are retained even if the automated system comes online. Rio Tinto have them assurances they will have roles within the company, but the drivers want assurances their benefits and salary will remain intact.
The unions are to blame for this as well…….getting unskilled migrant factory workers undeserved and un-manageable wages and conditions has resulted in job losses in many sectors, not just the car industries. All those paid days off, public holidays and ridiculous religious days off with pay have now come back to haunt them. Ford are a bussiness like any other and are not a community service, they have created many many jobs over the years and given much to the country and like any bussiness have ups and downs…….its a bussiness cycle. So just think……..if you had supported Ford and bought a fantastic Territory or FG Falcon instead of that IMPORTED car you and many others might still have a job. Its just that simple….but people just want to take take take and give nothing back..and that is a cold hard fact.
Australia is not the only one, but we are too slow at trying to get the system soughted out and when one party tried to the lost their position. Remember when Daewoo Automotive went bankrupt? They filed on a Thursday, shut down for the weekend and reopened on a Monday as Daewoo Motor. Why because they weren’t allowed to sack anyone. Even after the factory had gone fro 60% automated to 87%!!! Perhaps Ford and Holden and Toyota should do that.
Re-open renegotiate the contracts to peace pay reduce the costs of our cars in line with the Koreans and then see what hapens to the market. WOuld you buy a Sonata over a Falcomodamryion if they were the same price??