After a week of job cuts across auto component companies in Victoria, the AMWU is calling for urgent government action.

Forty jobs were cut at Unidrive, eighty at PBR and eighty at Kenworth Trucks which all followed announcements by Ford the previous week of further job losses at their Broadmeadows and Geelong plants.

Car axle component supplier Unidrive told the union it was forced to sack 40 workers due to the downturn experienced by Ford, Corvette and the closure of Mitsubishi.
 
AMWU Victorian Secretary Steve Dargavel said this was a clear example of how car manufacturers don’t stand in isolation, but that ramifications spread to the components suppliers as well.
 
“This is a clear result of Ford’s announcement last week regarding 350 redundancies and the reduction in plant operation hours,” said Mr Dargavel.

“Unidrive’s decision underscores the need for trade measures and industry policy that covers the entire automotive industry, inclusive of component suppliers.

Members at PBR last week were disappointed to hear about the job losses.

“Morale is very low,” said AMWU delegate at PBR, Lewis Farrugia.

“We need government intervention here, both at State and Federal level. The politicians should come down to PBR and talk to the workers who are losing their jobs and get an idea of what sort of impact it will have on their lives.”
 
The AMWU repeated its calls to the Federal and State Governments to hold an urgent roundtable on the future of the Automotive Industry to map out the plan to minimise redundancies such as those announced last week.
 
“We maintain that reducing the tariff is an unwise decision that puts Australia at a disadvantage compared with our trading partners. Government assistance should be overhauled to make sure that industry assistance is tied to employment outcomes,” said Victorian Secretary Steve Dargavel.
 
AMWU delegates from the auto sector travelled to Canberra this week, lobbying parliamentarians to reject the plan to halve the tariffs as recommended in the Bracks Review.

Delegate Mick Stirling from Ford in Geelong said many politicians were sympathetic to the union’s position and were willing to work with the union for better outcomes.

“Some of the ministers are still wedded to halving the tariffs, but there were a large number of backbenchers who backed us.”