Ford to slash hundreds of jobs with Geelong in the firing line

Australia’s factory workers union has labelled plans to slash jobs from Ford Australia’s historical Geelong home as “disheartening”.

The Ford factory site in Geelong’s north. Picture: Joshua Dowling.

Geelong is set to bear the brunt of Ford Australia’s moves to cull hundreds more jobs from its local workforce from September.

The motoring giant announced earlier this year that it was looking to shed jobs in Geelong and Broadmeadows .

Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union vehicle industry co-ordinator Vince Pepi estimated about 400 workers would be affectedby the changes.

“Unfortunately, most of the job losses will affect workers in the Geelong area,” he said.

“Ford’s announcement of job losses within the company is disheartening news.

“However we want to emphasise that these redundancies are voluntary and will not take effect until September this year.

“Currently, we estimate that around 400 jobs will be affected, with approximately 350 of those being white-collar workers and 50 to 45 being blue-collar workers.”

On Wednesday, Ford Australia said it had formally launched consultation with employees and the union for a “separation program”.

It is understood the cuts represent more than 20 per cent of Ford Australia employees and are part of a worldwide push to “improve efficiency”.

“We have begun consultation with our employees and unions on our intention to offer a separation program for approximately 400 of our 1800 employees in Australia,” a Ford spokesperson said.

Geelong is home to Ford’s research and development centre in Norlane, as well as a proving ground at Lara.

The Geelong Advertiser has been told about 350 Ford workers are based at Norlane, and 450 are based at the Lara proving ground.

3: Ford Customlines being assembled at the Ford Geelong plant in the early 1950s.

Mr Papi said the union would work with Ford management as the situation progressed.

“We understand that this news will be difficult for many workers and their families, and we want to ensure they have all theresources they need,” he said.

Victorian Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson based in Geelong said the federal government should intervene to provide a stable operating environment for Ford in Geelong.

“These jobs losses could not come at a worse time for our community,” Senator Henderson said.

She said she feared many of the up to 400 jobs to be axed could be from Ford’s operation at Norlane and Lara.

In February, Ford announced it would cull 1300 UK jobs as part of a move to shrink its business in Europe to focus on smaller electric vehicles.

Geelong’s Ford factory shut in 2016, three years after the company announced it would no longer produce vehicles in Australia.

Ford employed 510 workers at the Geelong plant in 2013, down from a peak of more than 4000 in the mid-1980s.

Originally published as Ford to slash hundreds of jobs with Geelong in the firing line