Comments on: Ford Australia cutting even more jobs

By: Frontman

Frontman — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 00:35:28 +0000

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??

By: Manly

Manly — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 00:16:33 +0000

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.

By: I.J.

I.J. — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 22:19:36 +0000

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.

By: realcars

realcars — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 13:07:36 +0000

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.

By: Frontman

Frontman — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 11:49:18 +0000

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.

By: realcars

realcars — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 10:24:52 +0000

Then again in most western countries like Australia political correctness is rife and any nationalistic or patriotic behaviours are suppressed.

How can we motivate our workforce to work for the country as the Asians do if this is the case.

DanMan hit the nail on the head in relation to asian culture.

Asian jeanie is out of the bottle and no one will put it back.

By: realcars

realcars — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 10:17:30 +0000

CB so management just shrugged their collective shoulders and walked away?

Starts from the top down not the other way around. The people at the top are paid to manage.

Greedy incompetent management compared to their Asian counterparts that’s the problem in the whole western world not just here.

By: CB

CB — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 10:07:16 +0000

BTW, I work for a large mining house, and we have now started purchasing our steel overseas – the quality is just as good thanks to our expat QA/QC, it costs only 1/4 as much, and is fabricated in 1/2 the time. We get the product here ahead of time, we construct, beat the schedule, and many Australians go home with nice bonuses.

By: CB

CB — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 10:06:50 +0000

Andrew M Says:
October 16th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
“if you thought by stand alone country that i meant Zero interaction with the outside world, then you are the tool for thinking anyone could be so stupid”

You did make the statment, so you’re stupid – simple. Imbeciles like you have no concept of how trade works and then make brash statements like that.

BTW I’ll tell you why our (heavy) manufacturing industry failed – costs and inefficiency.

In the Port Kembla and Newcastle steelworks all one could hear back in the 1980′s was “strike”, even though they were amongst the highest paid workers in the world.

In university we learnt the basics of Japanese manufacturing, created half a century ago – most of it is still relevant today, but when I walked into a high level production meetings in the steelworks in the late 1980s and early 1990s, I was met by boos of “Jap bullsh##” and “go f###ing live there” – this mentality is still prevalent today.

Another example: In 2004 at a conference we looked at the productivity of crane drivers working in various ports around the world (Singapore, Korea, Netherlands, Brazil, Australia) – guess what? Compared to Rotterdam, which is the world’s busiest port, our crane drivers were paid three times as much, for one SIXTH the efficiency.

Anyway, there are numerous examples I can raise – but unfortunately there isn’t much a country like us can do.

By: realcars

realcars — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 09:25:01 +0000

Asia will eventually win out as far as producing the worlds cars. Some niche euros will survive only because rich Asians prefer them to the local product.