Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has promised ‘millions’ of jobs while on a visit to a factory, despite the facility planning to cut employees and move operations mostly to Vietnam.
According to ABC News, the Australian leader proposed the plan during his trip to Rheem Australia's Rydalmere facility, where he said he and the coalition would create 1.3 million jobs by 2027.
He said: "Companies like Rheem are investing in Australia, advanced manufacturing companies are investing in Australia.
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"We have a manufacturing plan, based on having lower taxes, affordable energy, but on top of that, investing in the sectors which we know can achieve scale and achieve a competitiveness in Australia."
However, Rheem managing director Chris Taylor revealed last year that the facility’s employees were made aware of the changes occurring over the next few years.
He said in a statement: "The change is being made to ensure the ongoing competitiveness of the business against a growing range of imports, and to maintain the viability of its three existing Australian manufacturing facilities.”
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Mr Taylor also said many of the facility's employees would, unfortunately, lose their jobs due to the business downsizing.
He continued: "However the refocus of Rydalmere towards more sophisticated products will mean that job losses will be contained to well below the number of people likely to be seeking voluntary redundancy.
"There are a number of variables that will impact both the speed of the change and the quantity of product that will be sourced from the expanded Vietnam operation."
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During a press conference yesterday, Wednesday (April 13), Mr Morrison was asked about his plans for staff losing their jobs while many were also being moved to the Southeast Asian country.
In response to a reporter, he said: "They're voluntary redundancies and so they've elected to take those packages, so I wouldn't describe it in the way you have."
While Rheem plans to phase out many of its employees, Mr Taylor said it’s too early to predict how many jobs will be cut.
But he did acknowledge that factories in Moorabbin, Victoria and Revesby, New South Wales, would not be impacted as the company sees business changes.
Charisa Bossinakis