Job cuts blamed on cheap glass imports from China

UNIONS have blamed fresh job cuts in the glass industry on Australia's "weak" anti-dumping regime.

 They have threatened industrial action against builders they claim are directly importing cheap glass from China.

Thirty-seven workers at CSR Viridian's glass facility in the Melbourne suburb of Clayton were made redundant this week.

The job cuts represent about 10 per cent of the plant's workforce.

The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union said local managers had partly blamed the jobs cuts on reduced business as a result of cheap Chinese imports undercutting the company's sales.

Leo Skourdoumbis, the assistant national secretary of the union's forestry and furnishing products division, said Chinese companies were distributing glass into Australia "way below market rates".

The managers are saying a big reason for the redundancies is that the unfair competition coming out of China means their business has been affected," he said.

Martin Cole, a spokesman for CSR, said the company believed dumping had impacted on pricing and profitability in the glass market.

However, Mr Cole said the jobs cuts were primarily driven by other factors.

"The decision to make redundancies at the Clayton facility primarily reflects the ongoing weak conditions in commercial construction, but also operational efficiencies which have been made at the site," he said.

"In relation to anti-dumping, Viridian's upstream manufacturing business made an anti-dumping case in relation to clear float glass.

"In November last year, Customs issued their statement of essential facts which found that dumping had occurred and material injury had occurred, suppressing prices and profits.

"However, Customs has since advised that the case was terminated (after) they concluded that dumping had occurred but they could not determine material injury."

Viridian has subsequently appealed the case to the Trade Measures Review Officer.

Blue-collar unions have called on the federal government to protect Australian companies from cheap imports dumped on local markets.

The Australian Workers Union last week launched a campaign for a tougher anti-dumping regime, with its national secretary, Paul Howes, saying Australians wanted to be governed from Canberra, not Beijing.

Mr Skourdoumbis said Australian glass companies were being undermined by local builders striking deals with Chinese companies to import cheap glass.

'When we get direct evidence, we will target them," he said.

"It will be with industrial action or whatever means are at our disposal - name and shame these builders and take them on industrially and politically because unfair competition is putting Australians out of work."

He rejected any argument he was advocating protectionism or denying consumers access to cheaper goods.

"That argument is just a smokescreen," he said. "It's not fair competition, it's unfair competition because this glass is being sold at prices that Australian companies cannot possibly compete against, and the end result is Australian workers won't get work."

Truck driver Paul Jackson, 58, had worked at the Viridian plant for more than 19 years and was "shocked" when told he had lost his job.

He said he was concerned about the impact of cheap imports on the local industry. "We don't know even where the glass comes form," he said.