Decision yet to be made over future of Ingham factory
The destruction of Victoria’s largest chicken processing factory could force the redundancies of hundreds of workers, with the operator still mulling its options.
Inghams Enterprises’ Somerville factory went up in smoke on Monday after a fire started in the cardboard storage room on Victoria’s hottest day of the summer so far.
And the company is still to decide whether they will rebuild or relocate – with a resolution to be reached in the next six weeks.
About 200 workers are to receive jobs at a temporary plant in coming months but hundreds could be made redundant if the factory is not rebuilt, a leading union believes.
“From the Union’s point of view we can’t rule out redundancies,” Victorian secretary of the National Union of Workers, Anthony Thow, told the ABC. “[But] we want the company, we want Ingham, to commit to rebuild at this facility. It can be a world-class environmentally-friendly facility.
“It could be a great example for all of Australia and we’re calling on Ingham, and the federal and state governments, to create a plan with us to make that happen.”
