Posts
Blundstone Footwear has revealed plans to more than double the production of gumboots at its Hobart factory where about 250 jobs have been axed in the past year.
Some of the bootmaker's production was moved off-shore to reduce costs.
The final round of redundancies were announced yesterday and will see nine manufacturing workers lose their jobs in July.
But the possibility of re-employment has been flagged, with the company investing $1.5 million in capital and installing new machinery.
Blundstone's chief executive, Steve Gunn, says there is strong demand for gumboots, which has been driven by events like the mining boom.
"Whilst we're putting people off at the moment, the reality is that if we were to significantly grow our gumboot business we would need future increases in staffing but that's probably a, you know, post 2009 situation.
"We've invested considerable money in setting the factory up to be world class," he said.
The Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union's national president, Barry Tubner says it is a blow to workers who may have initially thought they were the lucky ones to have kept their jobs.
"There's no such thing as a good redundancy and the company announcing that this will be the final redundancy I don't really hold any faith in that statement but I hope to be proven wrong," he said.
Mr Tubner is not impressed and says he is surprised by Blundstone's plans for expansion.
"I don't think the original redundancies were necessary in the first place," he said.
Mr Gunn says the final lot of workers to go will be well supported when they leave in July.
"We'll be able to support those from day one, the disappointment of last year is that because of all the issues we had trying to get the government arrangements on board it took quite some time to provide support for them so from that point of view at least we're handling the whole thing a little bit more professionally," he said.
Blundstone is still making gumboots at its Moonah factory and will continue to employ 60 staff locally and 30 in Victoria.
Some of the bootmaker's production was moved off-shore to reduce costs.
The final round of redundancies were announced yesterday and will see nine manufacturing workers lose their jobs in July.
But the possibility of re-employment has been flagged, with the company investing $1.5 million in capital and installing new machinery.
Blundstone's chief executive, Steve Gunn, says there is strong demand for gumboots, which has been driven by events like the mining boom.
"Whilst we're putting people off at the moment, the reality is that if we were to significantly grow our gumboot business we would need future increases in staffing but that's probably a, you know, post 2009 situation.
"We've invested considerable money in setting the factory up to be world class," he said.
The Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union's national president, Barry Tubner says it is a blow to workers who may have initially thought they were the lucky ones to have kept their jobs.
"There's no such thing as a good redundancy and the company announcing that this will be the final redundancy I don't really hold any faith in that statement but I hope to be proven wrong," he said.
Mr Tubner is not impressed and says he is surprised by Blundstone's plans for expansion.
"I don't think the original redundancies were necessary in the first place," he said.
Mr Gunn says the final lot of workers to go will be well supported when they leave in July.
"We'll be able to support those from day one, the disappointment of last year is that because of all the issues we had trying to get the government arrangements on board it took quite some time to provide support for them so from that point of view at least we're handling the whole thing a little bit more professionally," he said.
Blundstone is still making gumboots at its Moonah factory and will continue to employ 60 staff locally and 30 in Victoria.
No comments:
Post a Comment