By JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
“IT’S A bit of a kick in the guts.”
Despite his efforts to downplay the impact, Bannockburn’s Bill Simpson was hurting underneath after experiencing a second redundancy in Victoria’s tough manufacturing industry.
Mr Simpson was a boilermaker at Ford for 24 years before losing his job when the company announced the closure of its car-making divisions, to be finalised next year.
Now he’s reliving the nightmare after finding out this week that he was among 125 redundancies at BAE’s Williamstown shipyard.
“It’s a disgrace that the government let the motor industry go down to the toilet and now it’s happening again. It’s very sad and unnecessary,” Mr Simpson said.
“You try to stay upbeat but you go through range of emotions. You tell yourself that one door closes and another one will open but I’ve forgone a really great job with a great bunch of blokes and, yes, they were great wages.
“I got tapped on the shoulder but in a way I knew it was coming.
“I still have a mortgage but some of the young guys are very stressed. They have big mortgages and commitments.
“All of a sudden they’re faced with the prospect of having to sell their house. The banks are not going to wait till they get another job.
“Men don’t wear hearts on sleeves and often tend to suffer in silence, so it’s not a good situation.”
The Independent revealed last month that dozens of former staff from Geelong’s Alcoa and Ford plants faced redundancy again after finding new jobs with BAE Systems over the past year.
Mr Simpson said he was undergoing the usual employment transition courses and considering BAE’s retraining options.
He held no ill-feeling toward his employer.
“In the end they did the right thing by us, so I have no gripe with BAE in any way.”
He blamed the redundancies on a lack of government planning and a failure to put in place new ship-building contracts in time.
“They must be as frustrated with the government as we are,” Mr Simpson said.
“It’s frustrating because both political parties are playing the blame game. From where I’m sitting they’re just pathetic.
“They need to show some leadership and make a decision so we can get on with it.
“If they made a decision I wouldn’t be where I am. I can’t understand what’s so difficult about putting pen to paper and signing some contracts.”
BAE Systems said the redundances were a result of a continuing decline in work as existing projects neared completion without new Federal Government contracts.
