Holden jobs: About 80 workers forced into redundancy ahead of 2017 manufacturing shutdown
Updated 21 May 2015, 5:34pm
Commodores wait for delivery outside Holden's Elizabeth plant.
PHOTO: Holden workers made redundant today will not return to the site, which is on a scheduled shut-down on Friday. (AAP: Eric Sands)
RELATED STORY: 270 Adelaide Holden workers to be made redundant by May 25
MAP: Elizabeth 5112
Holden will not confirm how many of the 270 workers sacked at the company's Elizabeth plant were forced into redundancy, but the ABC understands that the number is about 80.
The workers were today told they would finish up at the end of the week, but they will not return to the site in Adelaide's north, which is on a scheduled shutdown day tomorrow.
The majority chose to take voluntary redundancy packages, but workers have told the ABC about 80 were forced out.
The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) said today is the first time forced redundancies have occurred in the more than 50-year history of the Elizabeth plant.
AMWU state secretary John Camillo said it has been a difficult day at the factory, and he was particularly concerned for those who had been given no choice but to leave.
"We'll be following those people very carefully over the next few weeks, and their families, to help them out as much as we can," he said.
"We need now to make sure that we can find these young people employment elsewhere and that is very, very tough at the moment."
It is obviously a very significant escalation in the size of the difficulty for us. It's a bit of a taste of what's going to come when all of those workers are going to lose their jobs.
Premier Jay Weatherill
The jobs have been cut because production will drop from 290 to 240 cars per day from next week.
The ABC understands that, unlike previous rounds of redundancies, not enough people put up their hands for voluntary packages.
Mr Camillo called on the Federal Government to release $800 million from the Automotive Transformation Scheme to create jobs for car industry workers.
Primer Minister Tony Abbott, who was in Adelaide today, would not comment when asked about Holden, but the subject came up in discussions he had with Premier Jay Weatherill.
Mr Weatherill said today's decision by the company was "a very significant escalation in the size of the difficulty for us".
"It's a bit of a taste of what's going to come," he said.
Workers say farewell after years of comradeship
Holden worker Charlie Robinson said it had been tough for workers not knowing who was going to be included in the round of cuts.
"We've sort of said goodbye to the people who have taken the redundancy, but we haven't said goodbye to the people that we don't know are going to be going out the door," he said.
"It's tough times because of the amount of time that we've actually spent together and the comradeship that we've created."
Today's redundancies follow a small number of administration staff that were made redundant on Wednesday.
Holden would not confirm the number, saying its priority was to make sure employees were informed first.
Holden's manufacturing operations at Elizabeth have started winding down on a sliding scale ahead of the plant's closure at the end of 2017.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-21/some-80-holden-workers-to-be-made-redundant/6486080
Updated 21 May 2015, 5:34pm
Commodores wait for delivery outside Holden's Elizabeth plant.
PHOTO: Holden workers made redundant today will not return to the site, which is on a scheduled shut-down on Friday. (AAP: Eric Sands)
RELATED STORY: 270 Adelaide Holden workers to be made redundant by May 25
MAP: Elizabeth 5112
Holden will not confirm how many of the 270 workers sacked at the company's Elizabeth plant were forced into redundancy, but the ABC understands that the number is about 80.
The workers were today told they would finish up at the end of the week, but they will not return to the site in Adelaide's north, which is on a scheduled shutdown day tomorrow.
The majority chose to take voluntary redundancy packages, but workers have told the ABC about 80 were forced out.
The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) said today is the first time forced redundancies have occurred in the more than 50-year history of the Elizabeth plant.
AMWU state secretary John Camillo said it has been a difficult day at the factory, and he was particularly concerned for those who had been given no choice but to leave.
"We'll be following those people very carefully over the next few weeks, and their families, to help them out as much as we can," he said.
"We need now to make sure that we can find these young people employment elsewhere and that is very, very tough at the moment."
It is obviously a very significant escalation in the size of the difficulty for us. It's a bit of a taste of what's going to come when all of those workers are going to lose their jobs.
Premier Jay Weatherill
The jobs have been cut because production will drop from 290 to 240 cars per day from next week.
The ABC understands that, unlike previous rounds of redundancies, not enough people put up their hands for voluntary packages.
Mr Camillo called on the Federal Government to release $800 million from the Automotive Transformation Scheme to create jobs for car industry workers.
Primer Minister Tony Abbott, who was in Adelaide today, would not comment when asked about Holden, but the subject came up in discussions he had with Premier Jay Weatherill.
Mr Weatherill said today's decision by the company was "a very significant escalation in the size of the difficulty for us".
"It's a bit of a taste of what's going to come," he said.
Workers say farewell after years of comradeship
Holden worker Charlie Robinson said it had been tough for workers not knowing who was going to be included in the round of cuts.
"We've sort of said goodbye to the people who have taken the redundancy, but we haven't said goodbye to the people that we don't know are going to be going out the door," he said.
"It's tough times because of the amount of time that we've actually spent together and the comradeship that we've created."
Today's redundancies follow a small number of administration staff that were made redundant on Wednesday.
Holden would not confirm the number, saying its priority was to make sure employees were informed first.
Holden's manufacturing operations at Elizabeth have started winding down on a sliding scale ahead of the plant's closure at the end of 2017.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-21/some-80-holden-workers-to-be-made-redundant/6486080
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