The AMWU has entered into negotiations with whitegoods manufacturer Fisher & Paykel to get improvements to the redundancy package it offered its employees after announcing the plant’s closure over a week ago.

AMWU members at Fisher and Paykel in Brisbane have resolved to accept the decision by the company to close its operations.

Queensland AMWU Secretary Andrew Dettmer said that workers discovered that the company had not only bought land in Thailand, but have already commenced building on the site.

“Given this information, the workers have decided to get the best deal possible out of the closure of this plant.”

A number of staff have also expressed concerns about finding new employment once the plant closes, he said.

"Many of them are highly skilled people only within a narrow band of making refrigerators," he said.

Prior to the information about the level of investment of Fisher and Paykel’s overseas operations, the union urged the company to re think the closure of the Brisbane plant, which will leave 310 employees out of work.

The company had announced that it would move three facilities in Brisbane, New Zealand and the US to Thailand, Mexico and Italy.

Mr Dettmer sought and received assurances from the state and federal governments that they would provide assistance to the company if they decided to review their decision.

“I asked the company to put on hold their decision for three months. I believe they owed it to their workers.”

Mr Dettmer said the workers were very disappointed with the decision, particularly given that there was no warning to the workers.

“We met with company officials three weeks before the announcement and they assured us of the long term viability of their operations in Australia.”

“We are appalled at their dishonesty.”
 
Mr Dettmer said the AMWU is now seeking assistance from Fisher & Paykel and the state and federal governments to provide workers with skills training.