531 workers are set to lose their jobs at GM Holden at Melbourne’s Fisherman’s Bend due to the cutting of production of four cylinder engines.
 
AMWU Vehicle division federal secretary Ian Jones said the announcement would cause workers and their families ''significant hardship'' in a shrinking local automotive industry.

He said production of the four-cylinder engines would not finish until the end of next year, allowing some workers time to try to negotiate new jobs.

Holden employs about 3100 people in Victoria and 6500 nationally and the company says it will make attempts to absorb the workers into other areas of its manufacturing plant.

Mr Jones questioned the timing of the announcement, given that an inquiry into the automotive industry is currently underway.

"We would have thought it more appropriate to wait for the announcement to come once they understood all of the opportunities that have come out of that inquiry," he said.

Holden’s other operations, including the V6 engine plant at Fisherman's Bend, will not be affected.

The AMWU will negotiate with Holden over starting other manufacturing to replace the operations for the four cylinder engine.

Federal Industry Minister Kim Carr says he is concerned for the future of the workers who have lost their jobs.

"We want them to know that this Government is working with the international motor companies Toyota, General Motors and Ford to encourage new investment in the industry, and so we can open up new opportunities so we can see this industry move to a more sustainable basis," he said.

The announcement is bitter sweet for AMWU members in the wider auto industry who have been hard hit by closures around the country, but can take encouragement from the Toyota decision to invest in new hybrid-car production. Mitsubishi Motors closed its car assembly plant in Tonsley Park Adelaide earlier this year and Ford is set to end production of its locally produced six cylinder engine at its Geelong plant.

AMWU National Secretary Dave Oliver said the closure brought home the need for a government plan for the industry, coming out of the Bracks inquiry.

“All companies need to start looking at what kind of vehicles we'll be driving over the next 10 to 20 years, as Toyota has begun to do, and then position themselves to be the producer of those cars, not only for the domestic market but to be in a position to be exporting them around the globe," he said.