Australia: Kimberly-Clark to shut Ingleburn plant and axe over 200 jobs.
By
Terry Cook
15 April 2019
In a shock announcement early this month, consumer products giant Kimberly-Clark said it will close its Ingleburn plant by the end of July and move production to its plants in Asia. The south-west Sydney facility, which manufactures Huggies nappies and employs around 220 people, has been in operation since 1988. A new $28 million production line was added in 2013.
Kimberly-Clark is a US-owned corporation with plants in 35 countries including in Australia, New Zealand, the US, Mexico, Thailand, Taiwan, Brazil, Korea and South Africa.
The company has said that its Ingleburn site will be sold off and the plant’s machinery stripped out and relocated to other Kimberly-Clarke production facilities, thereby ruling out any possibility of a future recommissioning.
Distraught workers outside the Ingelburn plant explained to the media that they had not been given any forewarning or provided any kind of consultation. They were simply summoned to a meeting with management and told that the factory was closing and there was no chance of any reprieve. Some employees have more than 40 years of service with the company.
“There are people here who have just bought brand new houses and cars who don’t know what they are going to do,” one worker explained. Another said the loss of jobs will now make it hard for workers to put food on the table.
A hypocritical media statement by Kimberly-Clark Australia’s managing director Doug Cunningham declared: “At this time the company is focused on the wellbeing of employees and their families and providing them with the support they need now and in the months ahead.”
While the company claims it will continue to operate its plant in Millicent,…