Nine jobs will be cut at Murray Goulburn’s (MG) Koroit plant as the company reacts to the drastic drop in its milk supply.
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The nine jobs to go are part of 70 positions to be axed throughout the state with 52 going from its Leongatha plant, seven at Cobram and five at Maffra.
The Standard understands five of the positions to go at Koroit are in administration, three are in trades and one is in production.
The cuts come after MG’s milk supply plunged in recent years from 3.5 billion litres to 1.9 billion litres after its farmgate milk prices fell to be among the lowest offered by the industry.
MG said voluntary redundancies will be offered for most of the positions to go.
It said it had earlier sought to manage the drop in its milk supply by reducing its contractor workforce, changes to rosters and the use of annual leave and accumulated hours but more “decisive action” was now required.
The National Union of Workers, which represents many of the production workers at the Koroit plant, said the redundancies flowed “directly from poor, past corporate behaviour."
NUW state secretary Gary Maas said "it remains our hope that in the event Saputo take over these MG assets, they will be able to take these facilities back to full supply."
MG last month cut 60 tanker driver jobs at four plants including Koroit as part of its ongoing rationalisation in response to its financial difficulties.
In a bid to stem its declining milk supply, MG last month lifted its farmgate milk price from $5.20 a kilogram milk solids to $5.60 kgms.
It is also promising a further 40c kgms increase for active MG suppliers.