Australian Workers’ Union NSW secretary Russ Collison spoke to the Western Advocate just minutes after he came out of a meeting with plant management and staff yesterday.

Mr Collison said his first question to management was “is there any chance of this operation staying open?” and he was told no.

He did, however, receive a guarantee from Downer that no-one would be made redundant until at least the end of December, meaning none of the plant’s staff will be laid off before Christmas.

Mr Collison said he was told the decision to close Downer EDI in Bathurst was an economic one.

He was told the company could save $6 million by closing the plant and consolidating its business operations, focusing on the facility at Cardiff near Newcastle. The union has not been given a date for the plant’s closure.

“It was obvious it was a fruitless exercise to pursue the possibility of the plant remaining open,” Mr Collison said. 

He said therefore there are three key options the union wants to examine: redundancy, redeployment and relocation.

Ninety-six employees will lose their job. 

Mr Collison said yesterday the AWU and the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU) held an early morning meeting with workers, followed by a meeting with senior management including the facility’s Works Committee headed by executive general manager of human resources, Stephen Schofield.

He said there were a lot of questions exchanged and it was agreed that a Heads of Agreement be put together between the company and the unions, which would include a detailed process for negotiation. 

“Downer is a very big company making huge profits,” Mr Collison said.

“We indicated to them that we see a closure as significantly different to a redundancy, so we’ve served notice on the company that we would be looking for a form of ex gratia payment over and above the formula that exists in their agreement for redundancy.

“They’ve taken our concerns on board and have emphasised that their preferred option is redeployment. In fact, they stated that if the majority of people sought to be employed with Downer elsewhere, they could be accommodated.”

He said while the company has agreed there will be no redundancies before the end of December, the reality is negotiations could go for much longer than that.

“They accept our view that all employees have to be treated with dignity and respect from today, leading up to when we finalise the agreement,” he said.

“We have also agreed that if any individual had an opportunity for further employment elsewhere then, pending the needs of the business, they would do their best to facilitate that.”

Mr Collison said the workers were devastated.

“They are feeling uncertainty and fear for their families. They want to work, but have minimal chance of finding something in this area,” he said.

“They can pull up stumps and work in Newcastle or Melbourne, but they don’t necessarily want to do that.

“I was talking to a guy who has worked here for 42 years – others have been here 25 or 30 years. 

“These workers have specialist skills, but with places like Cadia, Electrolux and Simplot putting people off there is no light on the hill for them.” 

Another meeting between the union and management will take place next Thursday.