Thread: Geelong plant closure

Originally Posted by FenianEel

If we want to really get the Australian motoring industry back on it's feet, we should bring back the last truely Australian Car, pay 70's wages and sell em at 2007's prices..

And you could put a 44 in the boot as well. Perfectly suited for LPG conversion .

Originally Posted by barryj

And you could put a 44 in the boot as well. Perfectly suited for LPG conversion .

or 3 people at the drive through

Originally Posted by FenianEel

At the current rate, Australia will soon be a Gross Importer of Food, believe it or not.
Manufacturing industry, (as well as many others) in Aust. is struggling as a whole to compete on the world market, against cheaper imports and cheaper labour....unless you're part of the resource boom, or in cahoots with the Chinese.

It is sad that the Geelong plant is closing, but you've got a Yank in charge of Ford Aus, running it as part of Fords global money losing empire.
No diff. to GMH or any of the others.
Ford & GMH have done enough damage to the local industry by themselves in times past too.

Unfortunately, it's always the folks on the end of the chain that cop the pain but.

If we want to really get the Australian motoring industry back on it's feet, we should bring back the last truely Australian Car, pay 70's wages and sell em at 2007's prices..

It's 2 P38s

I had one for a tow car for a little while and it was great, I would love to still have it as even on petrol it wasnt that expensive to run and you could fit a 44 of methanol +a huge snapon toolbox and spares in the boot, tow the car and trailer and me and my mate could cofortable sleep in it, 1 in the front bench seat and one on the back.

Yoou could fit about 250ltr gas tank like on a truck in the boot and still have more room than a new falcon or commodore.

Great car.

[QUOTE=mcrover;569498]They have 3 years to work it out.

Like I said before, some will retire, some will go elsewhere in the company and some will go to other industries and it will be the minority that will sit back and complain that they couldnt find a job outside Ford.

As far as the knockon affect that will double the job losses, that is what you get if you put all your eggs in one basket.

Geelong is a growing city, it isnt there just to build Ford cars. There are many other industries that the employee's will find they can go to and Ford are only closing the Engine plant, not the stamping, Chassis and Disign/Testing plant as far as I know so it is 1 out of I think 4 factories that Ford have in Geelong that will be closing.

There's also Pilkington Glass (I think it's thm but a glass manufacturer), Shell oil co., fishing and tourism along with all the supermarkets and shops that employ low trained workers.

There's a lot of building and construction jobs including the new bypass when ever it goes through and I know there will be a new Golf course being constructed soon and a housing estate near the sale yards so there will be plenty of jobs for anyone who wants to work as there always is.

Mcrover
You are correct in saying Geelong is a growing city.
Pilkos has greatly reduced its production, I may be wrong but I belive to single shift, a lot of local business have already closed down due to competition with low cost manufacturing countries.
Ford shed 300 jobs down here at the end of last year.
Shell is very hard to get into, the majority of workers there are sub contractors, place booms during shut downs.

Bypass is in progress.

? fishing jobs, we wish .

I am wondering where you are getting your information.

I support my employer every fortnight when I pay my taxes

[QUOTE=Lucas;569621]

Originally Posted by mcrover

They have 3 years to work it out.

Like I said before, some will retire, some will go elsewhere in the company and some will go to other industries and it will be the minority that will sit back and complain that they couldnt find a job outside Ford.

As far as the knockon affect that will double the job losses, that is what you get if you put all your eggs in one basket.

Geelong is a growing city, it isnt there just to build Ford cars. There are many other industries that the employee's will find they can go to and Ford are only closing the Engine plant, not the stamping, Chassis and Disign/Testing plant as far as I know so it is 1 out of I think 4 factories that Ford have in Geelong that will be closing.

There's also Pilkington Glass (I think it's thm but a glass manufacturer), Shell oil co., fishing and tourism along with all the supermarkets and shops that employ low trained workers.

There's a lot of building and construction jobs including the new bypass when ever it goes through and I know there will be a new Golf course being constructed soon and a housing estate near the sale yards so there will be plenty of jobs for anyone who wants to work as there always is.

Mcrover
You are correct in saying Geelong is a growing city.
Pilkos has greatly reduced its production, I may be wrong but I belive to single shift, a lot of local business have already closed down due to competition with low cost manufacturing countries.
Ford shed 300 jobs down here at the end of last year.
Shell is very hard to get into, the majority of workers there are sub contractors, place booms during shut downs.

Bypass is in progress.

? fishing jobs, we wish .

I am wondering where you are getting your information.

I used to work at the old Geelong golf club, I still keep in touch with some of the old staff so thats where I get my info from.

I know for a fact that come spring, some of the fishing charter boats strugle to find staff, I didnt know the bypass had started but I do know that some serious construction will be going on where the golf club was so that is something.

Your making out like there is no work down there but it is the same in the rest of country Vic, the work is there but you just have to look a bit harder than you do in melbourne.

I dont know whats happening in the rest of the manufacturing companies as I dont have anything to do with them but there is that much redevelopment going on down that way that construction companies are getting labourers from Melbourne to work down there.

If your down there then you know what im talking about, I worked in a country town throughout the recession and even though I didnt do what I wanted to do I still worked and got paid for it and seems most people live in the country for the lifestyle, then it doesnt really matter what you do, as long as you can get paid for it.

I think that Geelong engine plant workers have 3 years to sort out what they are going to do and thats a fairly long time, Im sure anyone could find an adaquate job if they wanted to in 3 years, even in Geelong.

what do people forget the 1980's restructuring of BHP Newcastle Port Kembla and the loss of 15000 jobs when BHP modernised its steel making opertions

People forget the downsizing of SEC in Victoria from 30,000 plus to less than 8,000 under kennett

What about the SEQB in Qld under Joh

Where do you think the Redundancy provisions came from other than a reaction to the 1980's workplace changes and reduction of tariffs

Media makes every story as news as never happened before

Howard laws didnt cause Ford to close it plant or lay off its workers the cost of introducing new machinery to make new generation engines just too expensive and unit costs to make in australia too high

Your not going to cost compete against CHina when we are paing ourselves 5 times the monthly salary

Originally Posted by cartm58

Your not going to cost compete against CHina when we are paing ourselves 5 times the monthly salary per week

How can we compete...