FORTY workers at a steel production plant in Sunshine will lose their jobs,
after metals giant Arrium decided to shut it down.
The Precision Tube Business in Sunshine produces steel tubing and poles for
Ford, and other major Australian car makers.
The plant was understood to be losing around $100,000 a month.
Workers were told early on Wednesday afternoon that the business would shut
in February.
A spokesman for Arrium (previously known as OneSteel) said that the
production plant had been “in decline” for a number of years.
The high Australian dollar had also made keeping the plant profitable
difficult, he said.
“This business has been loss making,” he said.
Arrium would attempt to place these workers in other parts of its businesses.
“Those that can’t will provided with redundancy and other assistance,” the
spokesman said.
An Arrium plant in Perth will also close as part of the move.
The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union said there should be greater
government support for the local manufacturing industry. Assistant state
secretary Leigh Diehm said state and federal governments needed “to provide
greater support to local manufacturing industries … through stronger Buy
Australian programs”.
“Such measures need to be put in place to ensure other local manufacturers do
not meet a similar fate to One Steel,” he said.
