{"id":1719,"date":"2009-02-25T22:21:41","date_gmt":"2009-02-25T12:21:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/?p=1719"},"modified":"2009-03-01T20:32:38","modified_gmt":"2009-03-01T10:32:38","slug":"driving-future-strength-growth-profitability-and-sustainability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/?p=1719","title":{"rendered":"Driving future strength, growth, profitability and sustainability"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>PACIFIC BRANDS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><object width=\"425\" height=\"344\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/r5hTdb3vRAw&#038;hl=en&#038;fs=1\"><\/param><param name=\"allowFullScreen\" value=\"true\"><\/param><param name=\"allowscriptaccess\" value=\"always\"><\/param><\/object><\/p>\n<p>Pat Rafter has a lot to answer for. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theage.com.au\/news\/opinion\/paying-our-dues-to-society\/2007\/07\/22\/1185042944417.html\">A Proud Australian<\/a>, Pat relocated to Bermuda, a US tax haven, for eight years and slashed his tax bill. (Australia&#8217;s then richest man, <a href=\"http:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/?p=127\">the late Kerry Packer<\/a>, famously declared &#8220;If anyone in this country doesn&#8217;t minimise their tax they want their head read.&#8221;) Following in his footsteps, Pacific Brands have decided <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theage.com.au\/national\/work-heads-offshore-as-pacific-brands-axes-jobs-20090225-8hxk.html\">to relocate to China<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><em>People not only wear our brands, they sleep on our brands and accessorise their homes with our brands.<br \/>\nThey play sport, go to work, dress their children and relax in our brands.<br \/>\nEvery day.<br \/>\nEvery week.<br \/>\nEvery year.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pacbrands.com.au\/Files\/HY09-ASX-Release.pdf\">Announcing<\/a> the loss of 1,850 jobs, Chief Executive Officer, Executive Director, Sue Morphet, noted &#8220;The reduction in complexity will deliver the future strength, growth, profitability and sustainability of the business &#8211; for our shareholders and employees.\u201d<\/p>\n<ul>Sue was appointed CEO in January 2008 and prior to this was Group General Manager of Underwear &#038; Hosiery at Pacific Brands, the largest operating group within the business. <\/p>\n<p>Sue joined Pacific Brands in 1996 as General Manager of Tontine, following which she became the General Manager of Bonds in 1999. Under her leadership, the Bonds team relaunched the iconic brand, more than doubling sales and taking the brand to women for the first time. Prior to joining Pacific Brands, Sue held senior marketing roles with Sheridan and Herbert Adams.<\/p>\n<p>Sue is a director of the L&#8217;Or\u00e9al Melbourne Fashion Festival and is a member of Chief Executive Women together with various other philanthropic interests.<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;When Sue Morphet took over from Paul Moore just over a year ago, the company&#8217;s equity value was closer to $1.2 billion than yesterday&#8217;s $176 million&#8221; (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.theaustralian.news.com.au\/story\/0,25197,25101868-5013408,00.html\">Pacific&#8217;s Morphett needs debt extension<\/a>, Martin Collins and John Durie, <em>The Australian<\/em>, February 25, 2009).<\/p>\n<p>PB owns Berlei, Bonds, Clarks (children&#8217;s), Dunlop, Everlast, Grosby, Holeproof, Hush Puppies, King Gee, Mooks, Mossimo, Sheridan, Slazenger, Sleepmaker, Tontine and Yakka.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DRIVETRAIN SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theaustralian.news.com.au\/story\/0,25197,25105204-2702,00.html\">Drivetrain Systems International sacks 230 workers<\/a>, <em>The Australian<\/em>, February 25, 2009 | <a href=\"http:\/\/news.theage.com.au\/breaking-news-national\/gearbox-factory-sacks-229-workers-union-20090225-8hmc.html\">Gearbox factory sacks 229 workers: union<\/a>, <em>The Age<\/em>, February 25, 2009<\/ul>\n<p>Three hundred and thirty eight workers at Drivetrain Systems in Lavington (Albury) have been sacked without pay or entitlements as management proceeds to strip the factory of an estimated $17 million in assets.<\/p>\n<p>Workers are camped at the gates of the Kaitlers Road factory demanding the $5 million dollars in entitlements owed to the workforce. In December management and the AMWU assured employees that their entitlements were safe at the troubled business. On Friday workers were sacked without pay, and informed that there was simply no money.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Between now and December they\u2019ve been spent our entitlements&#8221; said one worker &#8220;we don\u2019t know what on&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Whilst all workers were sacked without pay, management and executive staff were retained on full wages. Management still occupies the factory.<\/p>\n<p>Workers say that there are still $17 million dollars worth of gear boxes still at the Kaitlers Road factory, but they fear they won&#8217;t see a cent. The administrator has announced that the payment of financial creditors comes before giving workers their due entitlements.<\/p>\n<p>The Kaitlers Road factory used to employ 1024 workers; this is not the first time that mass sackings have occurred. The factory is the only manufacturer of gear boxes in Australia, and was until the recent sackings the largest AMWU shop in the state.<\/p>\n<p>Management has embarked on a deliberate campaign to split workers at the Kaitlers Road factory. Management has said they will re-employ a third of the workforce for a period of eight weeks, but have not stated which third of the workforce will be re-employed.<\/p>\n<p>Action by workers has been hamstrung by this move. Desperate workers struggling to support families have said they cannot afford to jeopardize the possibility of eight weeks pay. If workers refuse the eight weeks work, they jeopardize future claims to Centrelink payments. Workers find out who will be re-employed on Wednesday, and will vote on whether to return to work on Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n<p>Support the picket line on Kaitlers Road, workers appreciate all supporters who drop in. In you\u2019re not in Albury-Wodonga, you can join <a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/group.php?gid=66430513376\">the Facebook group<\/a>, contact media outlets, and raise this issue with your local member.<\/p>\n<p>Why will workers entitlements only be paid after debts owed to banks and suppliers? Surely the families of workers must have a higher priority than the profits of foreign banks, when a business like Drivetrain International collapses?<\/p>\n<p>This report from the picket by:<\/p>\n<p>Dave Fregon &#8211; 0434000234<br \/>\nKieran Bennett &#8211; 0430509913<\/p>\n<p>If you need information or contacts for the workers, please contact us.<\/p>\n<ul><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bordermail.com.au\/news\/local\/news\/general\/tent-town-resident-may-lose-his-home\/1442033.aspx\">\u2018Tent town\u2019 resident may lose his home<\/a><br \/>\n<em>Border Mail<\/em><br \/>\nFebruary 24, 2009<\/p>\n<p>SIMON Parkinson, 28, is one of the younger members of the 338-strong workforce at Drivetrain Systems International.<\/p>\n<p>He has spent the past four nights camped out at the 24-hour \u201ctent town\u201d outside the Kaitlers Road property and is now wondering whether he might have to sell his home in Wodonga.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Parkinson is one of hundreds of apprentices produced by the Lavington factory since it opened in 1971.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMost of them have stayed here as it\u2019s been a good place to work and the wages are above the award,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>As an engineering technician, he is well aware of the slim chance of getting similar work in Albury-Wodonga, and says he doesn\u2019t want to move from the Border&#8230;<\/ul>\n<p><em>See also<\/em> : <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amwu.org.au\/read-article\/news-detail\/236\/AMWU-renews-calls-for-entitlements-protection-scheme-as-Drivetrain-enters-receivership\/\">AMWU renews calls for entitlements protection scheme as Drivetrain enters receivership<\/a>, AMWU, February 17, 2009 | <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theage.com.au\/national\/400-stood-down-at-car-parts-factory-20090216-899p.html\">400 stood down at car parts factory<\/a>, Howard Jones, <em>The Age<\/em>, February 17, 2009 | <a href=\"http:\/\/www.borderjournal.com\/2009\/02\/23\/drivetrain-workers-picket\/\">Drivetrain Workers Picket<\/a>, The Border Journal, February 23, 2009.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PACIFIC BRANDS Pat Rafter has a lot to answer for. A Proud Australian, Pat relocated to Bermuda, a US tax haven, for eight years and slashed his tax bill. (Australia&#8217;s then richest man, the late Kerry Packer, famously declared &#8220;If &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/?p=1719\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-state"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6AyE-rJ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1719\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}