By JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
UP TO 30 former Alcoa workers from Geelong and at least one ex-Ford employee face redundancy for the second time in 12 months as a Williamstown shipyard sheds another 125 staff.
The former Alcoa electricians joined BAE Systems after the Point Henry smelter closed just over a year ago.
Electrical Trades Union organiser Troy Knight said the workers were struggling with facing redundancy again.
“It’s pretty hard for the guys to take,” Mr Knight said.
“A few of them are really struggling.
“These poor guys all held long-term positions at Alcoa and thought they were going into another secure role at BAE Systems.
“They all put a lot of effort into this because they had to be retrained and certified for the work at Williamstown.
“It was a challenging job but they were all happy to be at BAE. It’s very particular work and they were very good at what they did.
“It was a really good fit for those guys. They had to get over the shock of Alcoa and now they’re faced with this.
“We’ll be running counselling for them and we have a support group of ex-Ford and ex-Alcoa workers.
“They’re all highly skilled and well-qualified but it hasn’t helped them retain their jobs.
“The government is dragging that away from them.”
BAE Systems blamed the cutback on continually declining work as existing projects neared completion without any Federal Government contracts in the pipeline.
BAE Systems said it had cut 500 staff from its shipbuilding workforce at Williamstown since October.
This week’s announcement brought the total reductions to around 600, the company said.
BAE had hoped to benefit from a $40 billion federal investment in shipbuilding but most of the work will go to Adelaide.
BAE Systems Australia director of maritime Bill Saltzer said the redundancies were necessary because of the project-based nature of the business.
“Our employee numbers must match the needs and status of our ongoing and upcoming projects.”.
The next major contacts for Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs) and Future Frigates will not begin until 2018 and 2020.
“We look forward to engaging with the Federal Government so we can better-understand the implications this will have for our shipbuilding operations in Australia and the contribution we can potentially make as this country’s leading naval shipbuilding prime contractor,” Mr Saltzer said.
“BAE Systems has world class designs for OPVs and frigates and our highly skilled workforce in Williamstown is unique in having experience building both of these types of vessel in Australia.”
