A biscuit factory in Victoria, Australia, belonging to Australian company Arnott's, is set to close as part of a $100 (€54.7m) million expansion of Arnott's Sydney and Brisbane plants and upgrading of its Adelaide factory, reports IndustrySearch.com
The popular assortment Assorted Creams was the last product to roll off the assembly line. Over 600 Victorian staff have lost their jobs, many of whom have worked with Arnott's for up to 25 years.
The Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union (LHMU) said it was disappointed at the closure. "It's a sad day for all Victorians and Australians because the trend hasn't stopped," LHMU assistant state secretary Terry Breheny told Australian Associated Press. "Businesses are still going interstate or overseas and there doesn't seem to be much support at a state or federal level to help manufacturing in Australia."
Arnott's began as a family business in Australia in 1865. The US-based company Campbell's bought Arnott's in 1997.Breheny said about 20 per cent of workers had found new jobs, but Arnott's manager of research and development Bob Pitts said the figure was more like 80 per cent.
Breheny added that while staff were satisfied with their redundancies, they remained bewildered by the closure of the factory which had been producing $100 million worth of product each year.