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Boeing 787 Dreamliner: blamed for mass job redundancies at the company's Melbourne site.
The government should step in to put a stop to mass job cuts at aircraft manufacturer Boeing’s Melbourne plant, a union has said.
The Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU) has urged Boeing to reverse its “unnecessary” decision to make over 300 redundancies from its Fishermans Bend site.
AMWU Victorian secretary Steve Dargavel said the company is planning to relocate operations to its Sydney site to lift its saleability, but the restructure would see virtually half the workforce lose their jobs and existing contracts disrupted.
“We are shocked and dismayed at Boeing’s announcement that they will shift work offshore to the US and relocate operations to the Sydney site, despite existing contracts and demand for operations they have decided to discontinue,” said Mr. Dargavel.
“We call on the company to reconsider…It is clearly a short-term profit-driven management decision to put all their resources and efforts into one smaller project – the 787 Dreamliner.
“But the fact that this product is not yet operational or even in production shows that it is a risky decision that will impact drastically on workers,” he said.
He argued both the state and federal governments have significant regulatory leverage in the aerospace sector to stop the company’s move.
“The government needs to review its procurement policy to punish companies that unnecessarily wreak havoc on the manufacturing industry,” he told AAP.
A Victorian Government spokeswoman said while any job redundancies caused by international economic conditions were disappointing, it would work with Boeing to minimise the impact on workers.
"Manufacturing is still the engine room of the Victorian economy, employing over 13 per cent of the state's workforce," the spokeswoman told AAP.
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