Ford Australia To Cut 640 Jobs

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WWW.THEAGE.COM.AU

Ford to cut 640 jobs

November 3, 2006 - 1:44PM


Ford Australia will axe 640 jobs from Victoria as declining sales forces it to cut its daily new car production.

The car maker, which employs about 5500 workers at its Broadmeadows and Geelong plants, said the job cuts would be voluntary and come from across the business. Most of the redundancies would take place by Christmas.

Ford last month announced it was cutting its daily new car production from 450 to 360 by November 20. The company blamed rising petrol prices and increased global competition for the decline in demand for large cars.

Spokeswoman Sinead McAlary said workers would receive a competitive industry standard redundancy package that had been negotiated with unions. She would not say how much the redundancies would cost Ford. She also would not say if the company had a target for how many workers from each division would go.

Ms McAlary said the company was committed to its Australian operations, with its executive chairman, William Ford jnr, last week dedicating a new research and development centre in Geelong.

"We are still investing in Australia, we are still planning to build the next Falcon," she said.

"It is simply about making our production rates and the size of our business match what is current market demand."

Australian Manufacturing Workers Union state secretary Dave Oliver said the job losses were the latest in a long line of manufacturing problems that would only get worse.

"These 640 job losses at Ford are another devastating blow to manufacturing in this country," he said.

He called on the Howard Government to work with the states, businesses and unions to save the manufacturing industry.

Ford last month reported its worst financial results in more than 14 years, posting a loss of $US5.8 billion ($A7.7 billion) for the third quarter.