LESS than three weeks after Electrolux announced it was cutting 200 jobs from its Orange fridge factory, it now appears up to 80 more jobs could be cut from the plant.
On April 22 plant manager Scott Ostini announced 200 jobs would be lost by the end of the year as part of a major restructure to enable the company to focus on large fridge manufacturing and help secure the plant’s long-term viability.
However, the unions representing blue collar workers at the Edward Street factory said the company was now seeking up to 80 voluntary redundancies from its large fridge manufacturing division.
Mr Ostini late yesterday confirmed the company had called for voluntary redundancies in the large fridge plant. These jobs would be on top of the 200 positions that were cut last month, he said.
However, he insisted the no firm figure had been decided on and said the jobs would only go through voluntary redundancies and natural attrition over the next 18 months to ensure continued efficiency improvements.
The unions are extremely concerned at the latest development. They want the company to be ‘upfront’ with workers and the community by revealing the “˜big picture’ plan for the future of the Orange plant to reduce continued uncertainty and speculation.
Australian Workers Union (AWU) spokeswoman Anne Thompson said union members were feeling very uncertain, as the recently-announced job losses were supposed to shore up the viability of the plant.
The voluntary redundancies were actually coming from the area of the plant the company said would become the focus of operations following the closure of the small fridge manufacturing division, she said.
The unions had pushed for a round of voluntary redundancies to soak up the 200 job losses, Ms Thompson said. However, the company resisted, arguing the jobs would go from the small fridge division, she said.
The call for voluntary redundancies made it imperative a community forum was convened to help establish a “˜big picture’ of future operations at Orange, she said.
From Central Western Daily