jobs

The Australian Workers Union (AWU) is concerned that the jobs of 250 maintenance personnel at the Richmond, New South Wales RAAF base may be at risk following Federal Budget defence cuts.

Sandvik Mining has opened its $50m Hunter Valley Site facility for the manufacture, assembly and support of surface and underground coal equipment.

Manufacturing industry groups are calling on the government to inject more funds in to the sector, following a tough start to the year with various redundancies and factory closures announced.

Style Limited, a publicly-listed ‘green’ building products manufacturer, has been placed in voluntary administration following a decline in the housing construction market.

Twelve sacked Toyota workers have filed legal action against their former employer, claiming they were made redundant because of their union activities.

Japanese company JFE Steel will provide 150,000 tonnes of steel pipe for Chevron’s Wheatstone LNG project, representing another blow for Australia’s struggling steel industry.

The way Toyota carried out 350 redundancies earlier this week has been called ‘appalling’, with the car-maker hiring security guards to escort the sacked workers offsite in case they resisted their fate.

Toyota Australia has begun shedding workers from its Altona, Victoria manufacturing plant, due to “unprecedented operating conditions”.

Manufacturing employment rose in February 2012, proving that Australia’s manufacturing industry is continuing to fight against the pressures of the two-speed economy and the high Australian dollar.

OneSteel will close its Kembla Grange Oil and Gas Pipe (OGP) manufacturing business on 31 May 2012, in an effort to cut costs in its steel processing business.