The Future Holden Commodore
SA News
Holden workers talk of cuts to car production and up to 500 jobs by as early as March
PREMIER Jay Weatherill says he remains concerned Holden may fast-track its plans to pull out of the state by the end of next year but has received no warnings that job losses are imminent.
Holden insiders have suggested a major production line cut and mass shedding of staff at the Elizabeth plant is imminent on the back of plunging sales of the Cruze model.
Workers have told The Advertiser they have been warned they should be prepared to be “tapped on the shoulder” should the schedule of redundancies not be met voluntarily.
It is understood a meeting of workers was held last week to outline the road ahead for Holden, which will end manufacturing in Adelaide’s north by the end of 2016.
Premier Jay Weatherill said the Government was “in constant discussion with Holden about the transition process, and we’ve not received any advice of further downsizing”.
“We’ve received no advice from the company of that sort, and they’ve always been assiduous in giving us forward notice about those sorts of things,” he said.
“It does just underscore the fact that we’ve got coming at us a very large transformation in the South Australian economy.”
Mr Weatherill said Holden’s early exit from SA remained “a real risk”.
Workers have said up to 500 of 1600 jobs at Elizabeth are earmarked to go within the first quarter of this year.
“They will be taking voluntary redundancies first, then forced,’’ a Holden insider said.
“No warnings. They will just come up and tap you on the shoulder and into the office for the speech ... then escorted straight to the gates.
“No time to say goodbye to anyone or anything. That’s very harsh, I think.’’
A spokeswoman for the carmaker on Tuesday said there was no meeting of workers or announcements to be made this week.
“Our overriding goal is to manage the scaling down of manufacturing between now and 2017 in a way that treats our employees with respect as they leave the company, and gives them the best chance at gaining future employment,’’ a statement from Holden said.
“All employees at the Elizabeth plant have access to transition support right through until they finish with Holden, and then for six months after they have left. This includes career advice and support, financial advice, training and outplacement.
“We are continuously monitoring sales volumes and ensuring that our production plan matches supply with demand. No decision has been made about when the production rate will change next, or what the new production rates will be. As always, our employees will be the first to know when any decision is made.’’
GM Holden has put forward a $14 million retraining fund to assist retrenched workers. Each worker can access up to $2000 for training courses to re-skill and an agreement has been signed that requires all of the $14 million to be spent on resources — including counselling, resume writing and job interview assistance — aimed at reskilling the Holden workforce.
Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union SA regional secretary, vehicle division, Scott Batchelor said a “rerate” of the production line at Holden is expected in March.
Mr Batchelor said Holden’s retraining package is “reasonable” and better than what has been offered by the Federal Government to support the components workers affected by the vehicle industry shutdown.
“It’s still going to be tough for those workers though,’’ he said.
“There’s still a level of anxiousness about what’s going to happen and when there will be redundancies.’’
Holden this week launched a new advertising and customer engagement campaign with the motto: “Let’s go there’’.
The campaign centres on looking to the future and Holden’s ongoing commitment to Australia by tuning every Holden locally for Australian conditions, contributing to future car design and supporting Australian communities with $5 million worth of grants over 10 years for grassroots sporting clubs.
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