Holden’s Adelaide manufacturing workforce has agreed to revised employment conditions that include a three-year pay freeze to help protect the company’s future as a local manufacturer.
The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union says the majority of the 1700 Holden employees at the company’s Elizabeth plant voted yes today in a ballot. Staff had been warned by the company that a ‘no’ decision would put production of the next-generation Holden Commodore and Holden Cruze in jeapordy.
Holden had originally been seeking wage cuts and a cap on voluntary separation packages in a bid to save the company about $15 million a year. It compromised with unions when 90 per cent of the workforce said it wouldn’t accept the proposal.
The company has already shed 500 assembly line and engineering staff in 2013 through voluntary redundancies.
Holden boss Mike Devereux, however, has said the future of the company in Australia will not be fully determined until after the Federal election.
Holden parent company General Motors was set to invest $1 billion in the next-generation Cruze and Commodore models up to at least 2022, but Devereux says discussions will be needed with whichever party wins the September 7 election.
The result of the Holden employee ballot has emerged on the same day that Ford Australia held an extravagant motorshow-style event
