Woodside sacks 429

Woodside sacks 429

By Stephen Robson

PERTH — Woodside Offshore Petroleum sacked 429 workers on February 28. One hundred and forty were from the work force of 500 at Karratha and the rest from the Perth-based staff.

Sixty-five of those sacked were production workers. Most of the sackings are effective from June 30. Woodside executive general manager Peter Brown estimated that the company would save about $70 million a year from the reduction.

The Amalgamated Metal Workers' Union is seeking to negotiate a better redundancy package.

Woodside managing director Charles Allen indicated that Court government ministers were briefed about the sackings two months ago.

Woodside has announced a 30% rise in net profit to $103 million for 1993.

From GLW issue 135