By JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
TARGET will shed 260 jobs from its Geelong headquarters and regional support locations, the company announced on Wednesday.
The redundancies followed a “review of store support functions” as part of an organisational restructure to help restore the company to profitability.
Target Managing Director Stuart Machin said the restructuring decision was difficult but necessary to put the business on a “sustainable path to growth”.
“This is an extremely difficult time for our team and unfortunately we’ll be losing many great team members,” Mr Machin said.
“With our sales and profit under-performance over the past 12 months, we have needed to act in order to get our costs under control and the right store support structure in place.”
Mr Machin said team members leaving the business would receive full entitlements and be given support and information services, including career transition help.
He said Target would explore redeployment opportunities wherever available.
Australian Services Union Private Sector Secretary Ingrid Stitt said the announcement was another devastating blow to the Geelong community.
“The news is deeply felt by the 1200 Target office employees, some of whom saw family and friends hit by the Ford announcement just weeks ago,” she said.
“This news will affect every one of our members at Target, not just those who lose their jobs. Staff here are strong, united members who have always looked out for each other.”
Ms Stitt called on State Government to “take the lead” on job creation in Geelong.
“We need a plan for job creation in Geelong that includes the service sector. The State Government must take a leadership role in carving out the jobs and industries of the future.”
Ms Stitt said she was not confident many sacked workers would gain redeployment opportunities.
Federal Member for Corio Richard Marles said the company had assured him it would keep its headquarters in Geelong.
Mr Marles said an industry taskforce meeting would convene immediately, with Geelong declared an employment priority zone.
He said a local employment coordinator would begin working on 1 July, providing tailored employment services to case manage sacked workers into future employment.
Mayor Keith Fagg said he would seek a “detailed briefing” from Target about its forward plans and support available to affected workers.
“It has been a challenging period for Geelong but I’m 100 per cent confident our economy and community will continue to grow and prosper,” he said.
“Geelong’s economy is much more diverse now than ever before and we continue to attract considerable investment from both the public and private sectors.”
Cr Fagg said he pushed Geelong’s case for more decentralised government departments at a Victorian Government cabinet meeting in the city last week.
Committee for Geelong executive director Rebecca Casson said the city had mobilised quickly following the Ford announcement and would do so again.
“We’re now at the front end of deciding how the funding will be used. We’re taking charge of how to deal with it,” she said.
The retailer reported a profit downgrade last month, flagging a possible second half year loss of up to $8 million and appointing its third chief executive in two years with Stuart Machin taking over from Dene Rogers two months ago.
