Workers speak out against sackings at Ford Australia : Melbourne Indymedia

Ford Australia announced plans in early November to axe 640 permanent jobs at its Broadmeadows and Geelong plants in Victoria before the end of the year. Both the unions and the state Labor government are collaborating with Ford to ensure there is no resistance to the layoffs.

Rather than campaign to defend jobs, the unions are doing everything to help management to push workers to accept “voluntary” redundancies. The Bracks government has endorsed the cuts, saying Ford had no choice because of falling sales and profits.

The World Socialist Web Site spoke to workers at Ford and in the Broadmeadows area—where unemployment officially stands at 13.4 percent—about the impending job losses. All were deeply concerned and angry about the impact on working families and especially the youth.

One worker who has been at Ford for 18 years said: “They say the redundancies are voluntary but they are offering packages to the men on light duties because of injury. The management is saying to them there is no job for you here, so you have to take the package. The unions do nothing to stop this.

“Some workers over 50 or 60 years old don’t mind leaving, but it is going to be hard for some of the younger ones. Also, it means that there are no jobs for young people in the community who are unemployed.

“They may put men back on when they launch a new model, but the number overall will be less. This happens all the time. When the people learn the job, they are cut back. So if you have a job that has three men, they give it to just two. It also makes for a pool of casuals that can be brought on when the company needs them.

“Many jobs have been lost over the time I have worked here. There were well over 7,000 but now there are around 5,000. In 1995, they worked two shifts at the old paint shop with a total of 1,000. Since then they have built a new paint shop and there is only a total of around 200 for both shifts.

“If you ask any worker at Ford they will all tell you they do not trust the union. They have all had experiences with the union and know it is close to the company. When workers complain to the company about having to take on an extra workload or anything, the management says you have to accept it because there are thousands of other people waiting for your job. They say you are lucky to have a job and you should be grateful. When you complain to the union, the union tells you the same thing.

“Ford does not care about the workers they employ. They are in business to make profits and that’s all that counts for them. They say they have to lay off because of reducing profits, but if you add up what profit they made last year, and the years before, they are still ahead.”

Ford worker Leon said: “I feel there is no real security in the car industry anymore. It seems to be like the Titanic—it is sailing on troubled waters and it’s going down fast. First we had the sackings at Ford and now 200 at GMH [General Motors Holden]. And then there will be jobs going in the car parts manufacturers.

“I am not sure what the future holds anymore. Of course, Ford has said it has committed to a new model in around a year and half. This makes a lot of workers at Ford think their jobs are secure until then and perhaps beyond. But this does not guarantee anything really. Markets change and maybe they will not be able to sell the new model.

“There are some real terrible things going on in the car industry. At Ford they have casuals who they call in when they want them. They put them on for three months or so, and then when they don’t want them they just get rid of them. It is really awful. They don’t even give them a real time framework. These are just nonsense jobs. There is no security for these workers. Because they are casual they can’t even apply for a housing loan or even a loan for a car.”

Moetu Orangi, a worker from New Zealand who now lives in Broadmeadows, said she was “upset and disgusted” about the Ford sackings.

“They come right on Christmas and it is very sad for those families. The union should have done something about this and not just tell workers to accept it. Many of these workers will not get full-time jobs again and will end up like me, working as a casual.

“I have been in Australia for almost three years. I had a permanent job. I worked at a car parts place but I got laid off when they sent the work elsewhere. Both permanents and casual were let go. Now I can’t find permanent work. It is not easy being a casual, especially when you have a family to support like me.

“Now you are not even hired by the companies directly and you have to go through labour-hire agencies. You see an advert in the newspaper and ring up and it turns out to be an agency. They send you wherever they like. If you don’t take what they give you, no matter what, then they will not give you anything in the future.

“To get any sort of employment you have to constantly chase it and you have to know how to work the agencies. It is enormously stressful trying to find jobs this way and also work under the conditions that exist in the companies where you are sent.

“Also, it is stressful because the permanent workers think you are trying to take their jobs and they are frightened. Employers hold it over them. It is a terrible atmosphere to work in.

“You can be at a company for three months and be getting settled in. Then they just tell you to go because after that time they have to make you permanent. You can’t do anything about it because you are casual and the unions will do nothing for you. They don’t do much for the full-time workers either. When they come out of a union meeting, you hear them say things like, ‘that was a waste of time’ or ‘that was a lot of rubbish’.”

Moetu said she was concerned about the Howard government’s new industrial relations laws that abolish long-standing working conditions, unfair dismissal laws and other basic rights. “These IR laws will make things worse. I don’t think the unions are going to do anything about it. They will have protests but they don’t actually do anything else.”

See Also:
Australia: Labor Party and unions stifle opposition to Ford job cuts
[22 November 2006]
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/nov2006/ford-n22.shtml
Australia: a socialist alternative in the Victorian state election Support the SEP campaign
[1 November 2006]
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/nov2006/vic-n01.shtml

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/nov2006/for2-n22.shtml

The state Labor government and the trade unions in Victoria are working overtime to assist Ford management in carrying out the destruction of 640 jobs at its Broadmeadows and Geelong plants.

As the Socialist Equality Party’s (SEP) candidate in Broadmeadows Will Marshall has warned, no campaign whatsoever has been initiated to defend the jobs. Union leaders have told workers that the job losses, announced late last month, are unavoidable in the prevailing market conditions and there is no choice but to accept redundancy packages.

To put a lid on any opposition, the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) has claimed that Ford workers are more than happy to sell off their jobs. Speaking from the same script as management, national organiser Joe Cummaudo told the media that a “significant” number of employees considered the redundancy payout “convenient”.

Yet Ford workers have told the World Socialist Web Site that the company is starting the job cull by pressuring injured workers on light duties to accept a “voluntary” redundancy package. These workers, who would find it extremely difficult to secure alternate employment because of injuries sustained at Ford, are not likely to define being thrown out of work as “convenient”.

Cummaudo even declared that the losses would be beneficial, by providing “stability” for the remaining workforce. To regulate production, Ford has put employees on a short week, with just 60 percent of their pay, on more than 20 occasions this year. “We hope as a result of this [the sackings] it will put an end to down days,” he said.

If “voluntary” redundancies are not forthcoming, Cummaudo confirmed that the unions were more than willing to assist Ford to impose forced retrenchments. “If they [Ford] go into forced redundancies, we will go back to negotiations and open up the packages,” he said.

The union and the company have already negotiated an increased payout—up from three weeks pay for every year of service to four weeks—but made this contingent on acceptance before November 29. The deal was clearly designed to stampede workers into accepting the offer.

Cummaudo openly bragged about the unions’ role in facilitating the destruction of tens of thousands of jobs in the car industry in recent years, including the elimination of 1,200 night shift jobs at General Motors Holden in South Australia. “We’ve never had an occasion [in the vehicle industry] where the target figure for voluntary redundancies has not been met,” he proudly declared.

It is true that some workers, demoralised by ever-worsening conditions in the car plants, opt to get out. Others may take the redundancy package to deal with pressing financial problems caused by the spiralling cost of living.

It must be stated frankly, however, that such short-term reasoning is highly detrimental to the long-term interests of the working class, and plays directly into the hands of the company and the unions.

The deteriorating conditions across manufacturing industries, which are the result of decades of betrayal by the Labor Party and the unions, mean that wherever workers go they face the same terrible situation.

Moreover, any financial relief will be extremely short-lived. Under the current redundancy arrangements, a worker with 10 years service will receive less than one year’s base-pay. After that is gone, the humiliating hunt starts for another job.

More importantly, selling off jobs at Ford via voluntary redundancies undermines the ability of workers at other car plants to resist retrenchments. Not accidentally, as soon as the unions signalled their acceptance of job losses at Ford, General Motors Holden announced the axing of 200 jobs at its Port Melbourne plant.

At the same time, the destruction of full-time jobs condemns young people to a life of low-paid, casual and part-time employment. Undoubtedly, many unemployed youth in Broadmeadows, where official unemployment is 13.4 percent, are the sons and daughters of current or former car workers.

Claims that workers are happy to sell off their jobs are false. Workers only resign themselves to redundancies because the unions and Labor constantly hammer the line that there is no alternative. The company is not selling cars, profits are down—therefore, job cuts are inevitable.

State treasurer John Brumby, the Labor member for Broadmeadows, was challenged by Will Marshall at an election meeting last week over his government’s attitude to the Ford job losses. He replied: “The simple fact is that if people aren’t buying their cars, it doesn’t matter how many public meetings you have then they [Ford] can’t employ the people.”

Those like Brumby who worship the “free market” never stop to consider the irrationality of the profit system. Cars have never been manufactured to fulfill human need. After all, there are millions of working people in Australia and around the world who cannot afford to own a decent car, while car yards are full to capacity. The only purpose for making and selling a car is to amass profits for the global auto corporations. If profits fall, it is the workers who pay the price.

With the ability to shift production around the globe, Ford is constantly demanding new concessions to maintain production in Australia. Governments and the unions have been only too willing to oblige. Instead of providing funds to the hundreds of workers being tossed out of work, Brumby and his colleagues grant handouts to Ford, one of the world’s largest companies.

Earlier this year the federal and state governments handed over $100 million to assist Ford’s research program. Under the Automotive and Competitive and Investment Scheme launched in 2001, Canberra plans to provide more than $7 million to the auto industry by 2015.

The jobs losses at Ford are a sharp warning that a new round of job destruction is underway. In manufacturing generally, it is predicted that 50,000 full-time jobs will be slashed over the next 12 months.

The unions are already preparing. AMWU state secretary Dave Oliver recently renewed the call for tripartite talks on manufacturing between the federal government, employers and the unions.

The SEP calls on Ford workers to take a stand against the machinations of the unions, the Bracks government and the company and reject the redundancies. The first step is to organise mass meetings to map out a campaign to oppose the job cuts and turn out to other sections of workers, such as those at GMH and the auto parts manufacturers, all of whom are facing the same attacks.

A struggle by Ford workers would attract broad support not only from the working class across Victoria and Australia, but across the world. It would encourage car workers internationally to mount a unified opposition to job cuts and plant closures. Against the predatory activities of global capital, the working class must have its own global strategy based on the complete reorganisation of economic and social life to meet the needs of the majority, rather than the profits of a tiny few.

The SEP is standing in the Victorian state election to fight for this socialist and internationalist perspective. We urge all workers and young people to study our program and to join and build the SEP as the new mass party of the working class.

See Also:
The Bracks government and unions help Ford Australia axe jobs
[10 November 2006]
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/nov2006/ford-n10.shtml
Australia: a socialist alternative in the Victorian state election Support the SEP campaign
[1 November 2006]
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/nov2006/vic-n01.shtml

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/nov2006/ford-n22.shtml