Axe swings at Toyota's Altona plant

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Axe swings at Toyota's Altona plant

From: AAP April 16, 2012 11:38AM

TOYOTA has begun sacking 350 workers at its Melbourne plant amid heavy security.

Security guards have been brought in to oversee the process, and workers are being ferried from the Altona carmaking plant to a reception centre across the road to be told the news.

Toyota says the 350 redundancies are all compulsory but a small number of workers have volunteered to be considered for redundancy.

According to union figures, 262 workers are being arbitrarily sacked over two days and 88 had volunteered for redundancies.

Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) official Charlie Marmara said the tactics employed by Toyota, including calling in security guards and transporting workers across the road in vans, were heavy-handed.

"For me personally (it's) very difficult, for the people themselves very upsetting, a lot of people are uncertain now what the future holds for them," he told reporters outside the Altona plant.



"They didn't know until this morning. They came to work with their lunches, said goodbye to their wives and kids and they've come to work, tap on the shoulder, (brought) in here and terminated."

Mr Marmara said some of the sacked staff had worked for Toyota for 30 years.

About 80 per cent would appeal the decision to make them redundant.

Toyota spokeswoman Beck Angel said the redundancy strategy was absolutely not heavy-handed, adding that security had been stepped up at the union's request during the 10-week negotiating period.

She said staff were being informed shop by shop and transported across the road where there was more room.

"We're doing one-on-one meetings with everyone. We just don't have the facilities at the plant to facilitate them," Ms Angel said.

She added a small number of staff had volunteered to be considered for redundancies, but couldn't say exactly how many. Not everyone who put up their hand for a redundancy would have received one, she said.

Toyota will not discuss the details of the redundancy packages but the union says workers have been offered four weeks severance pay for every year of employment.

Charles Allen, who was among the first to go, said he was devastated to have lost his job after 18 years on the engine manufacturing line.

"I've been coming here for 18 years and that's all I know, so now I've got to look for something else," the 41-year-old Werribee man told Fairfax Radio.

Mr Allen said he dreaded driving home and telling his wife the news, but hoped his redundancy package would help the couple pay off their mortgage while he looked for a new job.

Toyota has blamed the high Australian dollar and a slump in export demand for the job cuts, first announced in January.

About 10 per cent of the Altona plant's workforce is being made redundant across its production, press, welding, painting and assembly shops.

[Polyal]

That just really sucks...but what can you do? I hope Toyota helps those seeking new starts to find alternative work, even if its short term, just something.

[pottery beige]

ranga said its all good tho.. /storm clouds / rainy days......

[Jim Goose]

Reported a bit differently via the ABC:

Toyota sacks hundreds in Altona clean-out
By Danny Morgan and staff

Updated April 16, 2012 11:40:51


Extra security was called to Toyota's plant at Altona west of Melbourne today as the company began sacking 350 of what it says are its worst-performing workers.

The carmaker foreshadowed the cuts in January, blaming the high Australian dollar for falling export sales.

Over the past three months it has assessed more than 3,000 workers at the plant, testing them on workplace behaviour and skills.

The 350 people with the lowest ratings are being forced to leave either today or tomorrow.

Toyota says it will try to help the sacked workers find new jobs.

The company has deployed extra security at the plant to oversee the workers as they leave.

Charles Allan was one of the first workers told to go.

He said workers were taken aside to be told the news as they arrived to start their shifts today.

"We just got into work this morning and they said, 'Oh you might get a tap on the shoulder', and then the group leader's come along and said 'Oh yeah you've got to go to another room', and I thought, yeah, this is it."

He says he is disappointed after working for Toyota for almost two decades.

"I've just got to go and look for another job," he said.

"Eighteen years doing the same thing. Up at 5.30am, come here of a morning, not get paid for overtime, do the right thing.

"But they don't look at that. You know I'd love to know how many hours I put in without getting overtime."

ABC reporter Jeff Waters is outside the plant today and says there will be 262 forced and 88 voluntary redundancies.

"Afternoon shift at Toyota starts at 4:00pm. Scores of workers will be sacked on arrival and marched out," he said on Twitter.

"I've never seen so many security guards as hundreds of workers get sacked at Toyota."

One of the sacked workers, Fadi Hassan, says he and some others will ask Fair Work Australia to decide if the sacking is lawful.

"We want to know why we have been picked, why the people have been selected," he said.

"[If] people don't want to go or they have a good record we want to know what's going on. On what grounds?"

Victorian Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews says the way the news was broken to the workers could have been handled better.

"To be then taken to an external location to be told you don't have a job, that is a very interesting way of doing things," he said.

"I absolutely feel for those workers. It's a difficult time and perhaps the way it's been handled has made those difficult times even harder."

He called on the Government to make sure the sacked workers are given assistance.

"The one thing Ted Baillieu can do today is he can commit to providing those workers with the retraining, the transition assistance that they will undoubtedly need," he said.

[Smoke Pursuit]

Very sad.... A sign of the future ahead for manufacturing in Australia.

[trippytaka]

This was reported as coming on the front page of AFR (australian Financial Review) a few months ago. In the interview there were quotes saying how upset offended management had been about workers chucking sickies after Australia Day (the Friday). The offense was taken because Toyota had faught to keep all its workers on during GFC and after the Tsunami - with reduced hours and reallocating redundant roles (creating work for people where there was NO WORK) so they didn't have to lay anyone off.

[Jim Goose]

Sadly it sounds like its a case of getting rid of the "nonproductive" employees during tough times is justified.
But then if you read from the guy who got sacked he says he has put in a lot of unpaid overtime....... 2 sides to this story

[trippytaka]

Originally Posted by Jim Goose

Sadly it sounds like its a case of getting rid of the "nonproductive" employees during tough times is justified.
But then if you read from the guy who got sacked he says he has put in a lot of unpaid overtime....... 2 sides to this story

The Unions have been involved all the way. I am sure if there are grounds for dispute they will help the sacked employees claim for it.

[mik]

the era of job security is gone, unfortunate for these people, it does seem a little heavy handed the way they have been tapped on the shoulder and escorted away by security.

[Kryton]

Originally Posted by Jim Goose

Sadly it sounds like its a case of getting rid of the "nonproductive" employees during tough times is justified.
But then if you read from the guy who got sacked he says he has put in a lot of unpaid overtime....... 2 sides to this story

Yeah there is 2 sides to every story.
Theres a guy at our work who does untold amounts of O/T on a 12 hour shift and doesnt bill the company for it.
He's been there 7 years.
Doesnt make him a great employee though.
Fact is, it takes him 13hrs to do a job that has taken everyone else 9 hrs to do - and he still hasnt done the job properly or competently.
He turns up late almost every day, has a 2hr smoko and cant follow a single SOP.
So your right, there are 2 sides to every story.

[washoutbeach]

Those poor workers, losing everything, I honstely feel for them.

[trippytaka]

There are also those who work without a union supporting us... uni educated (50k debt for that), work 12 hour days on average... and recently find out that they are getting paid less than unskilled manual labour.

The fact is, no one's job is safe. Not in the current climate.

[aussie muscle]

pretty sad that these companies cry poor to get money from the govt but don't use it to keep staff on, or factories open. i think toyota don't actually need those funds now that they are saving all that money from sacked workers.

[malazn mafia]

Originally Posted by aussie muscle

pretty sad that these companies cry poor to get money from the govt but don't use it to keep staff on, or factories open. i think toyota don't actually need those funds now that they are saving all that money from sacked workers.

Toyota: The One You Ought To Avoid. Never bought one and would rather ride a pushbike than drive one.

[Dr Smith]

We have to also remember that the labour cost in building a car isn't the major component so it's not like there is going to be a dramatic savings for Toyota. It's moreso thatthey have excess staff for the current build rates.

If anyone saw a recent doco on building the new BMW X3 in the US the actual manual work involved really only begins at the interior fitout point with some workers initially placing the body components in a jig for the robots to do almost all the next stage of assembly including door fitting etc.. I was surprised at just how much mechanised assembly there is in obviously a very modern plant.

[Smoke Pursuit]

Originally Posted by Dr Smith

We have to also remember that the labour cost in building a car isn't the major component so it's not like there is going to be a dramatic savings for Toyota. It's moreso thatthey have excess staff for the current build rates.

If anyone saw a recent doco on building the new BMW X3 in the US the actual manual work involved really only begins at the interior fitout point with some workers initially placing the body components in a jig for the robots to do almost all the next stage of assembly including door fitting etc.. I was surprised at just how much mechanised assembly there is in obviously a very modern plant.

If this is the case then I would love to know why our cars are so expensive, compared with other countries. I always thought the labor component was where all the $$$ was.

[2011G6E]

I heard one guy on the radio who was a little miffed that they were escorted off the premises by security guards...he said he'd worked there for twenty years so "what did they think he'd do?".
Sorry, but there is a reason for it. One: They escort you out so you don't have a convenient slip and trip accident on the way out and sue them (hey, it could happen), and Two: someone with "twenty years experience" at the place is precisely the sort of person who would probably have intimate knowledge of how to creatively sabotage something so that it would later break down, if they were the sort of person to just snap when told they were sacked.

[mash again]

Originally Posted by trippytaka

There are also those who work without a union supporting us... uni educated (50k debt for that), work 12 hour days on average... and recently find out that they are getting paid less than unskilled manual labour.

The fact is, no one's job is safe. Not in the current climate.

Unskilled manual labour, just because the guy uses his hands doesnt mean hes unskilled and going to University doesnt mean you should be paid more. Its education in a formal place where as alot of "unskilled" people have skills and formal training from other areas, Sorry the University education thing gets on my goat. I know lots of intelligent people that choose to work as tradespeople and operators in industry, and i also know alot of educated people who couldnt do their job. Theirs my rant for today and i dont care if i didnt use the correct grammer

[Crazy Dazz]

I live in WA and work in the Mining Industry.
What will the country do when nobody in Victoria or NSW has a job anymore because everything is imported?

[buggerlugs]

Originally Posted by Crazy Dazz

I live in WA and work in the Mining Industry.
What will the country do when nobody in Victoria or NSW has a job anymore because everything is imported?

What will the country and the mining industry do if China's economy keeps slowing down...........

[FPV GTHO]

Originally Posted by DASH GT

If this is the case then I would love to know why our cars are so expensive, compared with other countries. I always thought the labor component was where all the $$$ was.

Compensation for RHD development i'd say would be a major part.

[Crazy Dazz]

Originally Posted by buggerlugs

What will the country and the mining industry do if China's economy keeps slowing down...........

Then we’ll get a chance to catch up, and hopefully reduced demand for new projects will bring labour costs down (so we don’t have to pay $175k for inexperienced T/A’s) which will make those projects remaining more feasible.
Ultimately if demand for Australian commodities slackens, then the AUD will drop, which will be good for Farmers and Manufacturers (if we still have any left.)

[Poetic Justice]

Bit baffled as to how this has been such a big news item today when it was reported 1-2 months ago that this would be happening...

[gtxb67]

Originally Posted by DASH GT

If this is the case then I would love to know why our cars are so expensive, compared with other countries. I always thought the labor component was where all the $$$ was.

350 people at $30,000 a year is $10.5 million saved each year

[pottery beige]

Originally Posted by buggerlugs

What will the country and the mining industry do if China's economy keeps slowing down...........

rangas carbon free clean and green jobs are on the way.....

[pottery beige]

Originally Posted by SCUD

Bit baffled as to how this has been such a big news item today when it was reported 1-2 months ago that this would be happening...

media seemed to carry on a bit about use of security.. no big deal.. standard practice when you get the boot......

[GCRXR6]

Originally Posted by mash again

Unskilled manual labour, just because the guy uses his hands doesnt mean hes unskilled and going to University doesnt mean you should be paid more. Its education in a formal place where as alot of "unskilled" people have skills and formal training from other areas, Sorry the University education thing gets on my goat. I know lots of intelligent people that choose to work as tradespeople and operators in industry, and i also know alot of educated people who couldnt do their job. Theirs my rant for today and i dont care if i didnt use the correct grammer

Great response. I gave you a thumbs up thank you.... Only one, because that's all we're allowed to give.

University education definitely does not make one more skilled. One may have a greater theoretical knowlege ... but can still be a complete dope when it comes time to put that "expertise" into practice.

[Bossxr8]

Pretty discraceful by Toyota. They had so many people who wanted to leave, but mostly choose to remove others who didn't, sure there might be some bad eggs who deserved it, but there are a lot who didn't. All it takes is a superior who doesnt like the look of someone for whatever reason and thats enough to have you sacked.

Luckily Ford and Holden have only ever offered voluntary redundancies, better to get rid of someone who doesn't want to be there than someone who does.

[mr smith]

Originally Posted by Crazy Dazz

I live in WA and work in the Mining Industry.
What will the country do when nobody in Victoria or NSW has a job anymore because everything is imported?

Head West and do your job for $15 p/h!
The mining industry will be loving the lay offs, nice big pool of hungry workers.

Will be interesting in 12-18 months when the true unemployment figures come out, all these guys layed off are NOT unemployed at the moment.

[Shonky.]

Originally Posted by GCRXR6

Great response. I gave you a thumbs up thank you.... Only one, because that's all we're allowed to give.

University education definitely does not make one more skilled. One may have a greater theoretical knowlege ... but can still be a complete dope when it comes time to put that "expertise" into practice.

Agreed 100%. The cleverest people I know are from my days as a tradie, not the later years at uni and then working as a "professional"

Always think the reason we have so many botched operations by surgeons is due to the booksmart, but often semi retarded people that end up getting through the education required. I would rather the steady hands of a cabinet maker or machinist putting my squishy bits back together, than someone who knows how to take the second derivative of an equation.