ASC cuts 45 jobs, expects further losses
Adelaide shipbuilder ASC is cutting 45 tradie jobs from its permanent workforce and will shed even more workers by the end of the year, it was announced today.
Boilermakers and welders at the shipbuilder’s Osborne base are the latest casualties as the Warfare Destroyer project winds down.
ASC Shipbuilding Interim CEO Mark Lamarre said the decision was not an easy one, but that further job losses were likely as the project neared completion.
“It is never an easy decision, but ASC is obligated to do all it can to operate as a highly efficient, productive and competitive shipbuilding organisation,” he said.
“The reality is that ASC’s workforce profile on the AWD Program has reached its peak and will now progressively decline as we head towards the end of the project and various trades complete their component of the build activity.”
The lay-offs come after the company last week announced it would shed an additional 500 jobs by the end of 2016 if it didn’t get more work.
“Until the outcomes of the Competitive Evaluation Processes for the Future Frigate and Offshore Patrol Vessel projects are known, it is not possible to maintain the current number of employees on this project as work winds down,” Lamarre said.
ASC has already cut 300 jobs since May, most of them being sub-contractors.
– with AAP
