Up to 250 Ford workers will lose their jobs as the car manufacturer announces forced redundancies at its Geelong and Broadmeadows factories.
The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union says the employees will be told they are being made redundant in face-to-face meetings with management starting at 7am.
Most of the job losses, about 170, are expected to come from Ford’s Broadmeadows factory, with the remainder from Geelong, an AMWU spokeswoman said.
The forced redundancies come after a voluntary redundancy program failed to attract sufficient numbers to cover 300 job losses announced by Ford in February.
Only 50 workers opted for a voluntary redundancy package.
Ford has experienced a steady drop in demand for its locally produced vehicles since it announced in May 2013 that its Australian car-making facilities would close.
Sales of the locally produced Ford Falcon, Falcon Ute and Territory fell from 54,087 sales in 2009, to 29,550 sales in 2013. In recent months, sales have steadied at about 1700 units per month.
A survey conducted by the AMWU last November showed 96 per cent of Ford workers hoped to stay with the car marker until it closed its Victorian operations in 2016.
