More than 200 Brimbank workers may be out of a job in the wake of Woolworths’ decision last week to pull the plug on its troubled Masters stores.
Losses topping $600 million over the past four years, with no sign of a profit on the horizon, has spurred the company to either sell or close its home improvement chain.
A Woolworths spokesman said there were more than 100 employees at each of the Caroline Springs and Braybrook stores.
Woolworths chairman Gordon Cairns said the company was forced to make the hard decision as it would take “many years” for Masters to become profitable.
“We intend to pursue an orderly prospective sale or wind-up of the business,” he said.
The initial process would take at least two months to complete, while a “potential sale process or other exit process will take additional time”.
Woolworths said in a statement that if stores closed it would try to find jobs for affected staff within the wider company.
“If Woolworths is unable to sell all of the business and has to close any of the operations, it will seek to provide alternative employment opportunities within the Woolworths Group to all current home improvement employees”
The Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association told Fairfax the looming sale or closure left 10,000 workers, nationally, and their families facing an “uncertain future”.
