By VANESSA CHIRCOP
TOYOTA will continue to sack workers at their Altona manufacturing plant today as they cull 350 jobs at the site.
As Star went to print more than 100 staff had already been sacked.
A spokesperson for Toyota said staff were informed before Easter that they would be told this week whether they were staying or going.
The company hired extra security guards to help manage any fallout from possible disgruntled workers.
As previously reported by Star, Toyota initially announced their intention to cut 350 jobs in January, with the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU) slamming the decision.
Negotiations with AMWU ended on Thursday 12 April.
The AMWU was hoping Toyota would consider voluntary redundancies and not issue forced redundancies.
Despite some employees raising their hands to be considered for the redundancies, Toyota still issued forced redundancies this week.
“Only a small portion of people expressed interest either way … not everyone decided to say which way they would like to go,” the spokesperson for Toyota said.
“We were pleased with the outcome for our employees and moving ahead with our plans.
“Today was the day that we’d always planned to start the process.
“All the 350 will receive a one on one meeting so that’s the reason we’ve had to do it over two days.”
Staff remained in the dark about their future at the company until being called into the meeting.
“We did give employees the opportunity to state whether they would like to be considered for a redundancy but … there’s a selection criteria that was agreed on by the union and everyone was assessed against that
same criteria.”
Member for Altona Jill Hennessy said her heart went out to the 350 workers that no longer have a job and called on the State Government to act.
“It’s a tough day for 350 workers and their families as they come to grips with the reality of lost incomes and jobs,” Ms Hennessy said.
“Premier Baillieu urgently needs to develop a jobs’ plan to assist these workers and thousands of others across Victoria looking for new opportunities.
