AMWU: Australian Manufacturing ...

Wake-up call as skilled workers feel squeeze 

By TIM AYRES Nov. 17, 2013, 9:44 p.m.

LAST week's news of at least another 43 workers retrenched from UGL's rail yards in Broadmeadow should be the wake-up call for the O'Farrell government to get serious about local manufacturing jobs.

These cuts were hardly a surprise. The industry has seen hundreds of skilled jobs lost over the last few months and we have been warning of a looming jobs crisis for two years.

Across the country manufacturing has been through the wringer of a high Aussie dollar, increased competition from overseas, and an uneven playing field in global trade.

But for Hunter workers the squeeze could have been largely alleviated by Macquarie Street.

In the case of passenger trains, the O'Farrell government has put off replacing the ageing silver "S" train sets beyond their initial life expectancy and delayed the refurbishment of the Tangara carriages. Bringing forward work on these trains could have prevented further job losses.

The government showed the same complacency when it decided to send key bus building contracts interstate, forcing coach builder Volgren to slash jobs from its Tomago plant. Similar cuts have been felt in Western Sydney.

Importantly the huge boost for local jobs from major rail projects - such as the north-west and south-west rail links - has gone unrealised because of the government failing to engage local industry.

The North West Rail Link will use more steel than the Sydney Harbour Bridge, but there has been no commitment to using Australian fabricated metal. It will also need new rolling stock yet industry fears trains will be sourced from overseas.

Last week the government made much of plans to extend Sydney's light rail network but those plans include importing trams from Spain. While the project will be a boon for Sydney commuters, apprentices in Europe not Newcastle will benefit from the jobs created.

Every example of government inaction is costing manufacturing jobs, and with much of that industry in the Hunter, workers there are hurting the most.

Some will say we should accept the decline of manufacturing, happy with Australia putting all its eggs in the resources boom basket.

However, this ignores the cyclical element of the commodity boom.

And the fact that manufacturing drives innovation and technological change; key factors in our productivity performance allowing us to achieve competitive advantage in global markets and supply chains.

Manufacturing creates high-skill, high-wage jobs; within the manufacturing sector but also across the economy, particularly in services that add value to products and processes.

It may be cheaper for the government to import cheaper product from overseas but price alone on major contracts is a false economy for taxpayers, particularly when it puts skilled locals out of work.

Government spending should boost, not undermine, our own industry capability.

Tim Ayres is Australian Manufacturing Workers Union NSW secretary.