Holden Axeing 1400 Jobs

[montyv8]

just got home from work (Holdens elizabeth plant in SA), after being told that we are going to lose 1400 people from our plant. this isn't a rumour, we got the official word from the head of production at a meeting at the end of shift.
the official word: (we got handouts)

"changes to local and export projections for the coming years show that the company is oversized for the volume we need to produce. In response, vehicle production at Holden Vehicle Operations, Elizabeth will be gradually revised down from 800 cars a day to 620 a day next year.

Because of this change in volume requirements, the GM Holden Board yesterday made the incredibly hard decision to reduce our south australian operations by approximitely 1400 positions by mid-2006.

this means that the GM Holden worforce at Elizabeth will be reduced from 5700 to 4300 (a return to 2003 levels)

Given our forecast volumes, the third shift which we introduced in 2003 is no longer sustainable."

thats the basics. i'm in no mood to type out the whole thing.

and please, before some smart-*** writes "haha, thats funny coz holden sucks", remember there are several forum members that work at the elizabeth plant. not just me.
cheers,
Phil.

[JPFS1]

sorry to hear this news MontyV8. I hope that if you (and friends) are affected by this that there will be other opportunties for you.

The manufacturing industry in Australia is getting tough, this sort of thing is not uncommon now unfortunately. We can thank free trade and globalisation, and in your specific case, GM's decision to pull out of their projects that Holden had no choice but to committ to and are now stuck with it. Holden now have the aweful exercise of ripping cost out of VE to recoup the huge development costs that was supposed to be sold to a broader world wide market, now it's pretty much local.

Did they say most of these workers are contractors?? Holden, now coming to the end of VE development would now be in that cyclical period of laying off their contractors etc. Would be very sad to see permanents go.

[paul7v7]

that's pretty sad...
i know of a couple of holden staff here in melbourne who were given the flick. they were high up in the food chain too.

[RED_EL_XR8]

Not good news MontyV8! I cannot believe the guff about downturns, I think its more about moving more production into Asia. And its easier for GM management to take Aussie jobs than risk the outcry from cutting poorer performing US plants.

Hope all is OK for the AFF guys working there.

[Dave_au]

Originally Posted by JEM

We can thank free trade and globalisation.

Well the capitalist ideals of free trade and globalisation is that you only specialise in industries that your efficient enough in production to compete in the global market. So while you can blame globalisation on one hand, you can blame inefficiency on the other. That's just a realist point of view on free trade and globalisation.

Unfortunately if we take this view then the only thing we seem to be good at are: 1. Raw Materials and Mining 2. Media 3.Transport Systems 4. Telecommunications, and the big players in all of those industries (bar Telstra) have become Multinationals.

Anyway, it's always sad to hear about the loss of aussie jobs. With the "do or die Mitsubishi 380" coming out as well, the next couple of years will be very interesting (and potentially sad) indeed.

[SpoolMan]

Losing any job is bad.... 1400 positions will be devastating to the surrounding communities of the S.A plant.

[Cheahman]

Hmmm lucky I left and got myself into a trade instead of staying there and hoping for something long term. But it certainly is very bad news and is going to severely affect alot of people there. Quite afew people quit other jobs they had to work there and now they may get laid off after only 2-3 yrs, not very fair.

[JADED6]

I feel like I've just been fired reading that.
Not good news.
1,400 is one hell of a lot of jobs.

[Mike Gayner]

That sucks man. Typical GM downsizing.

[paul7v7]

Originally Posted by Mike Gayner

That sucks man. Typical GM downsizing.

not just GM, many companies are like that. Banks being the worst. i have been offered a job at the NAB but i am not going to take it knowing what the banks are like with employees.

[SVR73]

That really sucks phil, I know a few people including jaded that work at GMH and I hope these guys don't lose their jobs

Best wishes
Matty

[OzJavelin]

Yep, that is bad news for all. If Holden start downsizing then the rest of local industry probably will as well ... and they'll probably start making up the difference in imports.

[XplosiveR6]

not good news man, thats alot of people who have to go home to their familys and try and explain it. i would imagine most of these people employed for the extra shift would be casuals?

[347Stroker]

Well lets just hope this is the death knell for the Commodores dominance, and Ford will regain market leadership, and have 1400 jobs available for all the ex Elisabeth employees.
Sorry to hear the news, and I hope that I doesnt impact too hard on families.

[Psycho Chicken]

Jeez that sucks mate, hope you're spared.

Originally Posted by Dave_au

Well the capitalist ideals of free trade and globalisation is that you only specialise in industries that your efficient enough in production to compete in the global market. So while you can blame globalisation on one hand, you can blame inefficiency on the other. That's just a realist point of view on free trade and globalisation.

It has nothing to do with efficiency. Well it would if all labour the world over cost the same, but it doesn't.

[4Vman]

Originally Posted by RED_EL_XR8

Not good news MontyV8! I cannot believe the guff about downturns, I think its more about moving more production into Asia. And its easier for GM management to take Aussie jobs than risk the outcry from cutting poorer performing US plants.

Hope all is OK for the AFF guys working there.

The Australian dollar is too high, manufacturing imports from Asia (china) are becoming a large thorn in the side of local manufacturing, over unionisation is reducing our competitiveness on a global scale, to put it simply its cheaper to have something made overseas than make it here.
Rising interest rates scare consumer spending, if interest rates stay stabble for the next 6-12 months you'll see consumer spending return and if the forcast drop in the australian dollar occurs local business opportunities will flourish.

[merlin]

Not good news at all.

I was reading somewhere on the net that these latest job cuts have something to do with Holden winding down from full on VE design ect.?

[4.9 EF Futura]

Perhaps it's best not to get too academic over the subject at hand. Rationalisation and manipulating a workforce like a mathematical equation is fine in an economics class - but this is people's lives. Aportion the balme between foregin currency, interest rates, industrial relations and globalisation if you must - but this does little for a family who's income is at risk.

1400 is a LOT of people in a small town such as Adelaide. Let's also spare a thought for the supply chain - the companies that produce gizmos and widgets purely for GMH who would undoubtedly be affected by the 180 less cars being built per day.

Sucks to hear this phil. I think anyone in SA usually shudders when news like this gets out... auto manufacturing such a key to our city.

Fingers crossed you dont get caught up in the downsizing mate. Let's hope GMH is stronger as a result and those who remain have a secure employer.

[4Vman]

Originally Posted by 4.9 EF Futura

Perhaps it's best not to get too academic over the subject at hand. Rationalisation and manipulating a workforce like a mathematical equation is fine in an economics class - but this is people's lives. Aportion the balme between foregin currency, interest rates, industrial relations and globalisation if you must - but this does little for a family who's income is at risk.

1400 is a LOT of people in a small town such as Adelaide. Let's also spare a thought for the supply chain - the companies that produce gizmos and widgets purely for GMH who would undoubtedly be affected by the 180 less cars being built per day.

Sucks to hear this phil. I think anyone in SA usually shudders when news like this gets out... auto manufacturing such a key to our city.

Fingers crossed you dont get caught up in the downsizing mate. Let's hope GMH is stronger as a result and those who remain have a secure employer.

Yes the flow on effect to suppliers is huge, and probably drives prices up due to reduced volumatic efficiencies..
Ive had the opportunities to supply to auto manufactureres before and kindly passed up on it because they wanted to dominate my business and dictate price and supply, ive opted to have lots of smaller customers rather than a few large ones so if one falls over it doesn't hurt as much.

[SpoolMan]

Overseas car Tariffs have dropped in recent years, and will at some stage drop to zero.
Car Imports will get cheaper, more people will buy ricer cars, we cant compete with these country's.... there standard of living is a lot different to ours.

[MADDER]

Hold on, Holden.

They are sending a range of very mixed messages. Which of the following are true.

A It's all about niche vehicles.
B Gorman says there's too many variants.

A Can't move Daewoos.
B Bring em back as Holdens.

A Expand capacity.
B Over capacity.

A Lets import Cadillacs.
B Big car market is shrinking.

This round of 1400 layoffs is in addition to hundreds of design and engineering contractors that have been let go in recent months. The down scaling of the VE program has also left several developmental houses hung out to dry. Various local suppliers have been passed over in preference for foreign manufacturers and plants.

Things change, and we all have to be prepared to be flexible, but for such a large corporation to make so many about faces...

A Holden means a great deal to Australia.
B Screw Australia.

[ZC-Cruiser]

Originally Posted by XRFPV8

Overseas car Tariffs have dropped in recent years, and will at some stage drop to zero.
Car Imports will get cheaper, more people will buy ricer cars, we cant compete with these country's.... there standard of living is a lot different to ours.

This is probably closest to the true story - Federal Government removes tariffs on imports, exposing local manufacturing industry to direct competition from countries where workers get paid a dollar a day.

Apparently, it is more cost effective for Hills to manufacture clotheslines in China and ship them to Australia than to make them here...

A boatbuilder at Cardwell who has been disallowed from building new boats at his slipway by the EPA (he is still allowed to do repairs) recently sold his moulds to a Chinese boatbuilder - he claims that he can land a completed catamaran here for half the cost of building it in Australia...

If the Federal Government wanted to protect local industry, they would apply tariffs to keep the cost of the imports on a par with the cost of efficiently produced local products.

Clearly, protecting local industry is not part of their agenda at all - if you doubt that, explain to me why they would even CONSIDER allowing the importation of bananas, potatoes, sugar, poultry or ANY other produce that our farmers can grow here...

[4Vman]

Originally Posted by ZC-Cruiser

This is probably closest to the true story - Federal Government removes tariffs on imports, exposing local manufacturing industry to direct competition from countries where workers get paid a dollar a day.

Apparently, it is more cost effective for Hills to manufacture clotheslines in China and ship them to Australia than to make them here...

A boatbuilder at Cardwell who has been disallowed from building new boats at his slipway by the EPA (he is still allowed to do repairs) recently sold his moulds to a Chinese boatbuilder - he claims that he can land a completed catamaran here for half the cost of building it in Australia...

If the Federal Government wanted to protect local industry, they would apply tariffs to keep the cost of the imports on a par with the cost of efficiently produced local products.

Clearly, protecting local industry is not part of their agenda at all - if you doubt that, explain to me why they would even CONSIDER allowing the importation of bananas, potatoes, sugar, poultry or ANY other produce that our farmers can grow here...

Its an extremely difficult balance to get, do you protect local industry with duties and tariffs and create lazy over unionised local industry which reduces productivity, pushes shelf prices skywards and creates massive inflation???
Or do you expose local industry just enough to imports to keep us on our toes, provide cost effective products on our shelves and keep inflation under control?
Dont forget we export to allot of country's we import from so trade agreements can play a part too.
Its a very complex and difficult blend thats constantly shifting, i do fear though that the High Australian dollar is making life hard for local manufacturing, and its very hard to keep lifting and dropping tarrifs in a short period of time to keep the balance.... Many deals and contracts are locked in place based on set rates and as a result you cant shift the goal posts quickly or easily..

[montyv8]

thanks for the words of support guys. much appreciated.
they do have a lot of people on 3-6month contracts, so they'll make up a reasonable proportion of the 1400.
my wife's a little worried tho, she works there too.
so it looks like i have to curb my spending on my coupe till the end of the year
while i save, just in case....
and that sucks, coz i like throwing money at the coupe lol

[4.9 EF Futura]

You think there'll be enough people putting their hand up for a package as well to save those who wanna stay?

[SSbaby]

Sorry but Holden sucks... and so does Ford!

Just an aside from the imminent downsizing announcement at Elizabeth, I can't believe Pilkington are in a less favourable position to supply glass to the two companies at competitive cost. The same goes for other suppliers. The trend is the same in the US where Delphi and Visteon are in financial trouble. First Ford pull the contract (import glass from China) and now Holden are awarding work to Malaysia?

Sorry to learn about your job fate... I will also be losing my job soon, too, as my company will be outsourcing work to India. It sucks! :yeees:

Message to Mods: Can I have a job on AFF? :

[chief]

My last job I was laid off with a whole heap of mates because of the company trying to go multi-national and loosing lots of money. It sucks.

I hope you find a stable job soon.

[andrew_smith_84]

kinda makes me wish i didn't quit my job, another 1400 people looking for jobs in SA is going to make it very hard to get a job.

[Heeno]

you can't blame the big companies outsourcing to other countries, there trying to save a buck, plus the asian countries are renouned for their work ethics and will work for a bowl of rice, this is a question you should ask yourselves, if you were the owner of a large company would you hire someone who will work day in day out for minimal cash or would you hire the person that wants a good pay, holidays, sickies and doesn't work any where near as hard as the first guy. i know who i'd choose, we expect to much of everything. im not saying every australian is a slack yobo, im just saying you should look at it from the companies point of view, sure they could keep the work here but then you've got an incredible increase in the price of a new vehical, and personally i don't want to pay an arm and a leg for a car!

i also agree it sucks but thats the way it is

[4Vman]

Originally Posted by Heeno

you can't blame the big companies outsourcing to other countries, there trying to save a buck, plus the asian countries are renouned for their work ethics and will work for a bowl of rice, this is a question you should ask yourselves, if you were the owner of a large company would you hire someone who will work day in day out for minimal cash or would you hire the person that wants a good pay, holidays, sickies and doesn't work any where near as hard as the first guy. i know who i'd choose, we expect to much of everything. im not saying every australian is a slack yobo, im just saying you should look at it from the companies point of view, sure they could keep the work here but then you've got an incredible increase in the price of a new vehical, and personally i don't want to pay an arm and a leg for a car!

i also agree it sucks but thats the way it is

For most companies that out source from overseas it isn't a choice, they either restructure and buy in to remain competitive or go out of buisness. Its that simple.
Id rather see a company make 1400 people redundant due to restructure and outsourcing than see them go out of business and make their whole workforce of 10,000 people redundant.