Ford workers at Broadmeadows and Geelong will be offered voluntary redundancies as the car giant moves to accelerate its shutdown of manufacturing in Victoria.
The company is shedding 300 positions by June but hopes workers will take up redundancy offers rather than be forced out.
The company announced in May last year it would stop making cars at both Victorian plants in October 2016, with the loss of about 1150 jobs.
But it would continue to design models in Australia to be made overseas.
A spokesman for the company told the Weekly last week the decision to bring forward job redundancies at Broadmeadows and Geelong was attributable, in part, to the end of Australia’s love affair with bigger cars.
“We need to match our production to demand,” Ford’s communication director, Wes Sherwood, said.
He said a shift in demand to smaller vehicles had seen sales of these models jump by 10 per cent in January alone. That, coupled with aggressive new-year sales by small-car importers, left homegrown larger vehicles on the shelf.
“It’s happening globally, even in North America,” Mr Sherwood said.
He said the US-owned giant remained committed to helping its Australian workforce retrain for life after Ford.
The state and federal governments put a $40 million transition package on the table last year, along with $10 million from Ford, to underwrite new opportunities for redundant workers.
Mr Sherwood said the company remained committed to a long future Down Under, despite a widely held public view it was packing up and heading home.
“Ford will continue to be the largest employer of high-skilled engineering and design jobs in this country,” he said. “We are partnering with local universities and are committed to being here and being the major auto employer offering highly-coveted jobs.”
“If people think we’re gone, that’ll hurt our future.”
