South Pacific Tyres, one of only two remaining tyre manufacturers in Australia, has just announced its closure affecting 600 jobs at the factory and another blow for the Australian manufacturing industry.

The company announced the closure this week despite having commenced EBA renewal negotiations with unions, at which it gave no indication of the pending closure.

“It was a complete and total shock, considering we’d just begun negotiating for the new EBA to start in November,” AMWU Assistant Victorian Secretary Gary Robb said

The AMWU is concerned that the decision demonstrates a worrying trend of companies taking their work offshore to places like China for cheaper unregulated labour.

“Australia’s manufacturing industry is really suffering, and now with another 600 jobs to go it shows that we need a blueprint for the automotive manufacturing sector to manage the leakage of jobs offshore.” Mr Robb said.