Ford may stand down thousands of workers
Spare parts stalemate affects Ford workersFord workers in Melbourne will be told not to bother coming to work on Monday if a dispute with a car parts manufacturer is not resolved on Friday, the company says.
As many as 4000 workers at the firm's Broadmeadows and Geelong plants will be stood down from close of business on Friday after industrial and financial problems at parts manufacturer Coghlan and Russell Engineering, Ford spokeswoman Sinead McAlary said.
The news follows earlier union fears that workers would be ordered home as early as Thursday, after 49 Coghlan and Russell Engineering staff were stood down without pay last Thursday.
"We are working as normal today and we will be working tomorrow," Ms McAlary said.
"For today and tomorrow, we have managed to reorganise production schedules for building cars that don't require as many Coghlan and Russell parts.
"However, from tomorrow we will start to run out of a significant number of car parts. If, by close of business tomorrow, the issue is not resolved, we will be telling workers not to bother coming in on Monday."
The 49 Coghlan and Russell workers are fighting for $1.85 million in entitlements after the firm entered administration on Wednesday of last week, the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union (AMWU) said.
AMWU acting Victorian secretary Steve Dargavel said the federal government was directly responsible for the plight of the workers and the thousands of others facing stand-downs across the automotive industry.
"Poor industry policy is driving work offshore and then these workers cop it again when their factory goes belly-up with no money for their entitlements," he said.
Coghlan and Russell supplies about 40 different components to Australian car manufacturers, including engine mounts for Ford and catalytic converters for Holden.
Ford would open a hotline for its workers to phone over the weekend for further advice if the stalemate had not been resolved, Ms McAlary said.
"If the issue is resolved over the weekend, a resumption in production will depend on how quickly Coghlan and Russell can get us the parts to get production lines moving again.
"We're hoping, of course, the situation will be resolved tomorrow - we're hopeful but not confident."
Source: AAP 2007
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