Call for auto industry assistance

Unions say the federal government must do more to save the future of Australian car industry jobs, by investing in technology.

The call followed an announcement by Holden on Wednesday that 200 jobs would be shed from its engine assembly operation at Port Melbourne, due to a fluctuating export market.

The move was prompted by a downturn in demand for the Family II four-cylinder engine, which is used in Daewoo cars sold in South Korea.

There have also been job losses recently at car component manufacturers Huon Corporation and Ajax Engineered Fasteners.

The Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union (AMWU) said thousands of jobs had been lost in the car industry in the past 12 months.

"We say the federal government needs to be more actively involved in supporting the manufacturing industry," AMWU spokesman Steve Dargavel said.

"These are redundancies associated with four cylinder production and it's because we haven't had the level of investment in plant and equipment technology domestically that we needed.

"It's not enough for the federal government to say they have been doing plenty, the evidence is that they are not doing enough.

"There needs to be a rethink, fundamentally, on government approach to industry policies so that we get the right environment, so that we get companies like GM investing in new four cylinder plants."

Mr Dargavel said the job losses at Holden had the potential to flow through to other areas of the industry such as component suppliers.

"When Holden announces 200 jobs what that will result in is ... three times that number, effectively."

The AMWU has held talks with the car maker on Thursday and said more discussions about the redundancies would take place on Monday.

Holden said the voluntary redundancy packages would be offered to staff over the next two weeks.

Source: AAP 2006