Three hundred manufacturing workers rallied outside the Bosch factory in Clayton, Victoria, today, to demand that companies who receive government funding must commit to manufacturing their technology in Australia.
After a horror week for Australian manufacturing, AMWU Victorian Secretary, Steve Dargavel, said that thousands of Victorian manufacturing jobs were at stake without mutual obligation clauses in government grants.
“For far too long, taxpayers have been funding the invention and design of technology in Australia, only to end up importing the finished product when companies relocate their manufacturing operations overseas.
“If the taxpayer is going to provide the funding for research and development, it must be tied to guarantees for local manufacturing jobs to make the final product,” said Mr Dargavel.
Chanting 'Shame Bosch Shame' and 'Keep the jobs here', the workers marched past manufacturing shops to the gates of Bosch's Clayton factory.
The workers targetted Bosch as an example of a company which had received tax-payer funding for R&D, but has since moved most of their production off shore. 380 jobs will go from Bosch in the next two years.
Mr Dargavel said the push for mutual obligation was particularly important with the new $10 billion Clean Energy Finance Corporation set to begin net year.
“Manufacturing employs 1 million Australians and clean technology is part of our future if we get the right policies in place. The Clean Energy Finance Corporation is a great investment in the potential of Australian manufacturing, but companies who benefit from it must have a mutual obligation to set up their manufacturing operations in Australia."
“Federal Industry Minister, Kim Carr, yesterday made further announcements of R&D tax credits which he claimed would address current issues in manufacturing. While these are important, the government must accept that funding support should be tied to manufacturing commitment," said Mr Dargavel.
AMWU Organiser, Craig Kelly, said he had written to the president of Bosch suggesting that the company was innovative enough to enter the clean technology sector.
He said the reply he had received had not been engouraging.