Company wins major contract and closes factory.

29 Jan 12

More Manufacturing jobs to go in NSW's Illawarra region as Bredero Shaw closes its factory.

Up to 30+ manufacturing jobs will disappear as Bredero Shaw closes its metal coating factory next month, despite recently winning a $400 million contract to coat the Inpex gas pipeline, from the Timor Sea to Darwin.

Instead of utilising it's only local facility, which would have seen the number of employees increase from 30 to 80, the company will use it's factories in Indonesia and Malaysia.

The steel supply contracts for the Inpex projects have been awarded to Japanese and European suppliers reportedly because Australia lacked the capacity required in the competitive tendering process.

Australian Workers Union assistant branch secretary Wayne Phillips said Bredero's Illawarra boss got a phone call from the company's headquarters in Canada last week telling them to close down the Kembla Grange facility "as soon as possible". "It's a real shame," he said. "It's been a good steady employer for many people for many years."

"It's simply another area where some foreign boardroom has made decisions that affect Australian jobs," he said. "Everyone should be asking why. It's just wrong."

The pipeline in question forms part of a major $30 billion investment by Japan's Inpex Corporation in conjunction with France's Total. The Gas will be piped to Darwin for processing and exporting, mainly to Japan.

Something is definately wrong with this whole scenario from the manufacturing sector's point of view, a $30 billion project that involves our gas resources, but most of the manufacturing for this onshore project is being done offshore. Where is Prime Minister Gillard with her name and shame for projects lacking local content, and what progress has Gillard's manufacturing taskforce made, it all seems to have gone very quiet.