Geelong reeling from job cuts

Vanguard July 2013 p. 5
Duncan B.

Workers in Victoria’s second-largest city, Geelong, have been copping a beating lately.

 

First it was the announcement in April that Shell was looking to sell its refinery there, with a possible loss of 450 jobs.

 

Next came the announcement in May that Ford is to cease vehicle manufacturing in Australia in 2016. This will result in the loss of 510 jobs in Geelong.

 

June brought more bad news for workers in Geelong. Carpet manufacturer Godfrey Hirst announced that it  is to cut out the night shift at its Riverside Textiles plant with the loss of 15 jobs.

 

Employees at the Geelong head office of retailer Target were next in the gun. The company announced that 260 jobs are to go, most of them in Geelong.

 

These job cuts follow on from last year’s cuts at the Gordon TAFE College (89), Qantas (260) and Alcoa (60).

Traditionally, Geelong was a major industrial city, with much heavy industry such as car and tractor manufacturing, abattoirs and woollen mills. In fact Geelong was once known as the “Bradford of the South” because of its many textile mills.

 

These industries provided employment for many thousands of workers. Later Shell and Alcoa set up in Geelong, employing many hundreds more.

 

The latest job losses show the dangers of relying on foreign-owned companies to look after the interests of workers. The multinationals will only invest where it is profitable and will close operations in an area if it becomes less profitable, moving operations to countries where there is greater exploitation of workers and profits are higher.

 

The Vanguard editorial in the June issue was correct when it called for the nationalisation of imperialist-owned industries such as Ford. Shell and Alcoa should also be candidates for nationalisation.