Vic: Rescue deal signed off for Ajax = 3

AAP General News (Australia)
08-22-2006
Vic: Rescue deal signed off for Ajax = 3

The rescue package saves the jobs of almost 200 Ajax workers who were stood down on Friday.

It also provides a lifeline for the car manufacturing industry which risked standing
down 10,000 workers.

But unions and the Victorian government warn any rescue package must be a long-term
solution and not a quick fix.

Premier Steve Bracks said short-term agreements with the major car companies would
ensure Ajax stayed in business for the next six months, but longer contracts were essential
for its survival.

"Writing of long-term contracts, three and four-year contracts for the provision of
those parts, means that there's a business that can be on-sold by the administrator,"

he told Southern Cross Radio.

"If they're (contracts) not written, we'll be back in a position where it'll either
be Ajax or another company overseas and that's where it's likely to go."

Australian Workers Union (AWU) Victorian branch president Mick Eagles said workers
needed assurances the deal would provide job security.

"They need some guarantees of what's going to happen," Mr Eagles told ABC Radio.

"We don't want this to happen again for the next week - workers stood down and we need
to know what the future looks like."

AAP cmb/gfr/evt/sd

KEYWORD: AJAX DEAL 3 MELBOURNE (REOPENS)

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