Holden cuts a shift...

[marty1000cc]

My wage drops by 42%!.....still got a job though..........

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/

EXCLUSIVE: HOLDEN is moving car assembly to a single shift and halving production at its Elizabeth plant in an effort to survive the global financial crisis.

Hundreds of workers at the Elizabeth plant last night were told the afternoon shift would be axed in favour of a single shift worked by two teams, operating on different days.

The arrangement, which takes effect on May 4, will involve the two teams working a five-day week on a one week on, one week off basis.

In a series of meetings across the plant at 10pm last night, workers said they were also told there would be no retrenchments and that the measures would be in place until Christmas.

It is understood the workers' pay will be the same as what they now receive for the current "down day" arrangement, under which the company pays half their wage on the days they are'nt working

Australian Manufacturing Workers Union state secretary John Camillo said a lot of questions from both workers andf the union remained unanswered.

"It's going to be a very emotional, hard time ahead," he said.

"And there's going to be hard decisions made over the next few weeks."

He was unsure of the impact of the cuts on second-tier component suppliers.

Holden told staff the reason no voluntary redudnacies were offered was because the skilled workers would be required for the future.

Leaving the plant last night, production worker Craig Oxenham: "They say no retrenchments.... they'd be hopeful people will leave."

The current production of 600 cars a day would be scaled back to 300 cars a day.

In addition to the new measures, staff were told there would also be more production "down days".

Many staff leaving the plant last night said they were disillusioned because they didn't get a chance to ask questions after the announcement was made. They were only told of the meeting at 9pm.

Other staff said they believed job losses were inevitable in spite of the action being taken.

"They are running out of money like nothing else," one worker leaving the factory last night said.

Holden will make a statement this morning detailing the strategy.

Treasurer Kevin Foley last night said the "simple reality" was Holden needed to manage its workforce to adjust to a severe global downturn in the automotive manufacturing industry, caused by a sales slump.

"The future of Holden is still very bright and very strong with the new vehicle coming on line," he told The Advertiser.

Mr Foley said he had been briefed on the announcement but declined to comment further.

Have the latest breaking news sent straight to your inbox.
Subscribe to the free AdelaideNow e-Edition. Click here.

In the U.S. yesterday, Fritz Henderson, the new chief executive of Holden's parent company, GM said it would close more U.S. plants and cut more jobs, but still faces a higher probability of bankruptcy to shed debt.

"The expectation is that we need to go deeper and faster," Mr Henderson said in describing GM's restructuring after its previous plan was rejected as insufficient by U.S. officials.

It was his first statement since taking over as chief executive of the embattled automaker on Monday after his predecessor, Rick Wagoner, was forced out by the Obama administration.

It has given GM 60 days to reach deeper concessions with bondholders and the United Auto Workers union and said it would finance a court-supervised bankruptcy if the process failed to deliver deep enough savings.

Henderson said GM could decide to file for bankruptcy within its 60-day deadline if it became "quite clear" that it would be unable to reach the deals it is seeking.