Ninety-eight employees at the Kandos cement works will lose their jobs or be relocated as Cement Australia closes the factory over the next four months.
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Workers were told of the decision on Thursday morning.
Cement Australia CEO and managing director Chris Leon said it had been a challenge for the Kandos operation to remain viable due to a combination of dated, inefficient technology and high fixed costs.
“Despite almost $10 million invested in 2007 to improve the plant, attracting and retaining high quality, experienced professionals to Kandos also continues to be a challenge as the next wave of skills shortage looms,” he said.
“In addition, for trade-exposed industries such as ours there are the additional pressures of the high Australian dollar. Current regulation and government imposts are also an increasing burden on manufacturing and the carbon tax will only exacerbate this.
“Finally, the Kandos plant is also a considerable distance from the market it serves and this, unfortunately, further undermines its competitiveness.”
Cement Australia said employees would be supported through the transition and would receive their full entitlements.
Thirty-four people will be offered another role within the company, which will continue manufacturing in Gladstone and Bulwer Island in Queensland and Railton, Tasmania.
It is understood employees were forced to take annual and long service leave recently in an attempt to pull through the global financial crisis.
Mid-Western Regional councillor Peter Shelley said the news was “devastating”.
“It’s not just a community. It’s family and friends [that are affected],” he said.
Mr Shelley said the local community was resilient and would bounce back from the plant closure.
“I feel for the 98 people who have been told today [Thursday] they’ve lost their jobs,” he said.
Federal Member for Parkes Mark Coulton said the Kandos plant was the first victim of the pending carbon tax, to be announced tomorrow.
He said his deepest sympathies were with workers and their families, some of whom are third and fourth-generation employees.
Mr Coulton said he had previously warned of dangers involved in paying carbon prices in regional communities like Kandos.
“This is something we have been talking about in Australia for years,” he said.
“Regional communities can’t handle prices on carbon. It leaves them exposed.”
Fears were raised for Kandos in 2009 at the time an Emissions Trading Scheme was introduced.
