The Global Financial Crisis is biting hard on the home front, with news Holden will start 2009 with a series of production line closures from January through to March. This will affect as many as 3,400 workers, although they will still be eligible to claim a wage equivalent to four and a half days work during their down time. The closures amount to around 15,000 less vehicles being produced.
At this stage, Holden’s top brass are saying no permanent retrenchments are on the horizon. In tough times like this, and with parent company GM in all sorts of financial bother, I’m sure these claims mean little to GM’s Australian workers. With sales of the traditional Aussie big 6 cylinder falling, one has to wonder just how much longer our car industry will remain viable?
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