Three hundred print workers in NSW, Victoria and Queensland will reportedly lose their jobs in the PMP/IPMG merger deal, according to the Australian Manufacturers Workers Union (AMWU).
The newly-merged print company has confirmed that three of its sites - one each in Victoria, NSW and Queensland – “will likely need to close. However, no decisions have or will be made until completion of the merger, board approval and appropriate consultation with the AMWU as prescribed in our Enterprise Agreement.”
There are no changes planned in South Australia, Western Australia and New Zealand.
Some staff members at the company’s headquarters in Melbourne have already been farewelled.
Lorraine Cassin, the AMWU’s national print secretary, has estimated that job losses from the three plant closures could total more than 300 - mostly in New South Wales (140 jobs) and Victoria.
"We are currently engaged in discussions with PMP/IPMG to mitigate job losses as a result of this announcement," Cassin told Print21. "This is an uncertain time for workers and it is critical that we have as few job losses as possible. We’ll be talking to workers and management over coming weeks to fight for these jobs and give workers certainty about their future.
"Our priority is to ensure workers are treated with dignity during this process and receive all of their entitlements under the union negotiated collective agreement.”
PMP estimates that the annualised savings from the transformation of the business will be about $55 million, or $15 million higher than expected when the transaction was announced in October 2016.
The merger deal creates a listed printer and printing services group with $112.2 million earnings before tax and proforma profit of about $40 million a year based on 2016 financial year numbers.