Toyota workers warned

[BroadyFord]

The ball is in their court.

Toyota workers warned

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politi...123-31bsj.html

Industry Minister Ian MacFarlane says the 2500 manufacturing workers at Australia's last car maker must accept cuts to their pay and ''archaic'' conditions or face Toyota's probable exit from Australia.
At a meeting with Mr MacFarlane and Trade Minister Andrew Robb, the Victorian government presented a secret plan to save Toyota's local manufacturing operations.
In an exclusive interview with Fairfax Media, Mr MacFarlane warned that 30,000 jobs could go across the industry if Toyota exited Australia. He urged workers to ''think about their futures'' and brushed off suggestions that he was a lone voice in the federal cabinet arguing for car industry assistance.
This month Mr Robb said companies lobbying for government subsidies should embrace economic restructuring, a view shared by many of his economically dry colleagues, who expect Toyota to follow Holden out of Australia.
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One Liberal MP, who asked not to be named, said Mr MacFarlane was ''out on a limb'' and that he and Treasurer Joe Hockey had very different views on industry assistance. But Mr MacFarlane said: ''I'm as dry as any of them. The issue is not whether Toyota is viable but can we get them to the point where they can compete with [Toyota operations in] Kentucky and Thailand.''
He left open the possibility of more aid from the federal Automotive Transformation Scheme, which has an estimated $1.38 billion left in it until next year, but said he would wait for the Productivity Commission to hand down its final report on March 31 before making a decision on co-investment.
Mr MacFarlane said Toyota was doing everything it could to continue making cars in Australia but the biggest threat was a battle with unions over pay and conditions.
''All I can do is plead with employees on the shop floor to think about their futures and the need for competitive work practices. I'm not comparing them to an assembly line in Thailand. I'm talking about the Toyota plant in Kentucky.
''The unions need to show leadership. The priority should be preservation of jobs, not maintaining archaic conditions in the award.''
Toyota is trying to slash labour costs by $17 million by altering workers' entitlements that allow four hours' paid time off to donate blood, cutting Sunday penalty rates from 2½ times to twice the normal rate as well as changing provisions that allow workers to take sick leave without a medical certificate.
The Federal Court blocked the company's attempts to cut costs by $17 million through amendments to 27 conditions in the workers' enterprise bargaining agreement.
The cuts to labour costs are part of an overall move to reduce production costs per car by $3800 by
2018 and keep the car maker in Australia.
Toyota will decide this year whether Australia will make the next-generation Camry. Toyota's Australian president, Max Yasuda, warned in December, after Holden announced its exit, that the company now faced unprecedented pressures.
The car maker built 106,000 cars and 108,000 engines in Australia last year and, unlike Holden and Ford, exported about 70 per cent of those cars.
Victorian Premier Dennis Napthine will seek a ''significant contribution'' from the federal government to help ensure Toyota makes the next-generation Camry in Melbourne after 2017.
The national secretary of the vehicle division of the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union, Dave Smith, said the union could find common ground with the company on some of the cost reduction measures. ''Some of what they want we could get through quickly, but some of it is nonsense.''