90 jobs to go at government-owned shipbuilder ASC

A round of redundancies at government-owned shipbuilder ASC will see more than 90 workers lose their jobs.

Cranes at Australian Submarine Corp. Picture: AAP

A round of redundancies at government-owned shipbuilder ASC will see more than 90 workers lose their jobs in a move that unions claim as another failure by the Turnbull government.

ASC, based at Osborne near Port Adelaide, today said the completion of the second of three Air Warfare Destroyers, Brisbane, and progress on the third, Sydney, well-advanced, it was necessary to “reduce the shipbuilding workforce to reflect operational demand and ensure the continued meeting of project budgets and schedules”.

An ASC spokesman said the shipbuilder took the action “reluctantly” and after a “rigorous process” of identifying and filling redeployment opportunities to other areas of the ASC Group.

The spokesman said 93 production employees faced redundancy.

“There may be the opportunity for the number of employees to leave the business to be reduced further, if additional redeployment opportunities can be identified in the coming weeks,” the spokesman said.

“ASC Shipbuilding is today briefing employees on the impact of the changes and support will be provided through the company’s employee assistance program and career transition centre.

“With the Hunter Class Frigate Program set to commence production in 2020, to be delivered by ASC Shipbuilding as a subsidiary of BAE Systems, it is anticipated that many former shipbuilding employees will have the opportunity to return to the company

in due course.

“ASC Shipbuilding is also working with BAE Systems to identify opportunities within their broader Australian workforce to help minimise the impact of these labour force reductions announced today.”

Unions said those to be retrenched included 75 electricians, two pipe welders, eight mechanical fitters, two facilities fitters and six sheet metal workers.

AMWU assistant national secretary Glenn Thompson said the latest job losses represented a failure by Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne to properly plan for Australia’s future shipbuilding needs, noting he had declared the so-called “valley of death” over on October 12 last year.

“This government is in turmoil over Malcolm Turnbull’s lack of proper leadership and its energy policy and now it looks like losing more skilled workers from shipbuilding,” Mr Thompson said.

“Christopher Pyne has been promising to save shipbuilding jobs ever since the government announced the submarines and frigates would be constructed at ASC but those promises were worthless.

“Minister Pyne needs to take decisive action to secure the ASC workforce. We need some urgent leadership to secure these jobs and make sure there are sufficient skilled and experienced workers at ASC to kickstart shipbuilding once the new work begins.”

Mr Pyne’s office has been contacted for comment.

South Australian Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas said the job losses were “extremely concerning” and accused Premier Steven Marshall of doing nothing.

“There will be demand for highly skilled workers at ASC for many years to come and it seems ludicrous that just before we are about to build up employment down there we are getting rid of almost 100 jobs, on top of 200 earlier this year,” he said.

“If the ‘valley of death’ is over, there should be no need for these job losses. Premier Marshall can’t just be Pyne’s patsy — he needs to do more to make sure the federal government has a plan.”

Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne said staffing decisions were a matter for the ASC board and management.

“The fact is any job losses at ASC and elsewhere in the shipbuilding industry is a result of Labor’s ‘valley of death’,” he said.

“ASC’s future was further secured following the Turnbull government’s decision for ASC to build the nine Hunter class Frigates based on the design of BAE. This $35 billion program will create 4000 Australian jobs.”