A Lion spokesman quickly refuted comments by a union official that staff were told in June of the closure of the plant, which manufactures Castlemaine XXXX.
Referring to a claim by United Voice co-ordinator Damien Davie, Lion’s Dan Holland said in a statement that there was no truth in it.
“These recent claims are false; we are actually hiring five more permanent people right now,” Holland said.
“There are no job losses. In fact, there will be pay offers on the table—on top of the best pay and work conditions in brewing in Queensland.
“We simply want to the ability bring on additional people in summer, when we brew more beer. This is how every other seasonal manufacturer operates, but our current agreement is confusing and prohibitive.”
Davie had claimed that some workers had also received threats the plant would close if negotiations to scrap full time jobs in favour of labour hire, part-time and casual positions were unsuccessful.
He said that the five new jobs would be part-time positions that would replace full-time roles. He called on XXXX’s Japanese-owned parent to put its claims in writing and commit to full-time jobs at the brewery.
“The continued push to bring in labour-hire employees and casualise the workforce is the main reason cited by management when threatening workers with closing the plant,” he added.