Presented by Robert Clark MP		www.robertclark.net

Manufacturing strike 'damaging'

The June 3 strike by manufacturing sector unions will damage a resurgent Victorian industry sector and should have been called off, according to Industry Minister, Mark Birrell.

Mr Birrell said manufacturing jobs in Victoria have risen by 8,800 since 1996, not fallen as the Trades Hall Council has claimed. And, since 1992, there has been $19.9-billion worth of new investment in the manufacturing sector.

"Our focused industry sector strategies have been a key ingredient in this success, with major recent investments by companies as diverse as Toyota, Qantas, Bonlac and Siemens," Mr Birrell said.

He said that Labor leader Steve Bracks was wrong when he told Parliament (April 14, 1999) that "since the 1996 election some 30,000 Victorian manufacturing jobs have been lost".

Mr Birrell’s figures come from an ABS Labor Force Survey (February 1996 to February 1999; ABS Labor Force Survey Cat. No. 6203.0)

(News Release, Office of the Minister for Industry Science & Technology, June 3, 1999)