Clipsal to cut 90 jobs, more than 100 gone at Port Lincoln Tuna Processors

Electrical manufacturer Clipsal has cut about 90 jobs, while a Port Lincoln business will shed more than 100 after it lost contracts.

About 200 jobs have been lost in South Australia – 90 at well-known electrical manufacturer Clipsal and more than 100 at a Port Lincoln food-canning business.

Staff at Clipsal’s Gepps Cross plant were told on Thursday the company would stop making 570 of its high-volume products.

Existing plastic moulding machinery needed to be upgraded or replaced but this was too expensive, Clipsal parent company Schneider Electric said. As a result 66 permanent and 24 full-time equivalent jobs would be redundant between September this year and June 2022.

“This was a tough decision because we know that this announcement impacts our people,” Schneider Electric president of the Pacific zone Gareth O’Reilly said.

“We care about our employees’ wellbeing and so we’re supporting them through this in as many ways we can to help them find new roles.”

Voluntary redundancy packages would be offered and Schneider Electric would provide each employee with up to $1500 for retraining.

Once the redundancies were complete, Clipsal would still employ about 450 permanents plus casuals at Gepps Cross.

Schneider Electric's Clipsal factory at Gepps Cross.

It would continue to manufacture more than 4000 product lines, such as switches, sockets, industrial products and electrical accessories.

Since 2019, Schneider Electric has spent more than $4m upgrading its Gepps Cross factory, which it acquired when buying Clipsal in 2004.

With SA already recording the highest unemployment rate in the nation, the Opposition lamented the loss of jobs at Clipsal

“This is yet another manufacturer closing or reducing scale, following West End Brewery’s imminent closure,” Opposition treasury spokesman Stephen Mullighan said.

“Premier Steven Marshall should be working to assist these companies retain or expand their operations.”

Meanwhile, Port Lincoln Tuna Processors, has failed to secure any contracts for the second half of the year, putting its future in danger.

Managing director Mario Valcic said the team had “worked very hard to sustain our operations amid challenging business conditions in regional South Australia and COVID-19 upheavals”.

“It is saddening to have to face the present reality,” he said. “I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all staff and suppliers of Port Lincoln Tuna Processors for their support and loyalty.”

The business had processed products such as baby food, gravy, puree and custard after the tuna-canning contract went to Thailand in 2010.

It was established in 1973 to process, freeze and export local bluefin tuna.

Meanwhile, oil and gas service provider Firetail has collapsed, leaving 20 staff out of work.