Anti-Dumping Commission needs more resources and powers: Australian Workers’ Union

A major union has warned that more factories will be closing down in the future if greater action isn’t taken against overseas exporters.

Labor is under pressure to bolster the powers and resources of the anti-dumping watchdog, as manufacturing businesses collapse and the nation faces tariff threats.

Australian Workers’ Union officials met with federal ministers last week to discuss the future of glass manufacturing in Australia.

This follows the nation’s only maker of architectural glass for homes and offices, Oceania Glass, entering administration this month.

The Dandenong-based company, which employs 260 people, had raised concerns about cheap imports of clear laminate glass from China and Thailand with the commission.

But AWU Victorian secretary Ronnie Hayden is warning there will be a “tsunami of cheap products dumped in Australia” if investigations into claims drag on.

“If we don’t give the Anti-Dumping Commission more powers and more resources, then we are not going to be ready to deal with this, and there’ll be a lot more factories closing down in the future,” Mr Hayden said.

“It’s glass but it’s also like steel will be next. The steel industry are on the knees with the amount of steel that’s been brought into the country, when we know we can make it here.”

AWU Victorian secretary Ronnie Hayden. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Dumping occurs when a country exports a product to Australia at a lower price than what is charged by domestic manufacturers.

Oceania Glass made an application to the commission about imports from China and Thailand in September last year.

But it was not due to receive a response until the end of April, with a final recommendation to the minister due about mid-June.

Mr Hayden said this was too long for a company to have a “rope around their neck”, adding the outstanding case could impact prospective buyers of Oceania.

He said if dumping didn’t occur, then management could have looked at their own practices and made changes prior to entering administration.

The commission, which operates within legislative and World Trade Organisation requirements, would not reveal if it had sought additional resources or powers to meet its responsibilities this term of parliament.

Industry Minister Ed Husic. Picture: Martin Ollman

Oceania owes creditors upwards of $125m, according to administrators.

Taxpayers may be on the hook for about $45m in workers’ entitlements under the safety net of the Fair Entitlements Guarantee.

The scheme provides financial assistance to eligible employees who have lost their job due to the liquidation or bankruptcy of their employer and have unpaid employee entitlements, which it then seeks to recoup.

It is understood the company had considered a $26m rebuild of its facility in a bid to reduce emissions and high energy costs, with the hope that the state and federal governments would chip in for half.

US President Donald Trump last week told Prime Minister Anthony Albanese that he will consider making Australia exempt from his plan to slap 25 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminium imports.

However, the domestic steel industry remains concerned that countries hit with tariffs would then dump their products in Australia, impacting local prices.

Federal Industry Minister Ed Husic did not respond for comment by deadline.