Dairy processor Murray Goulburn cuts jobs at Leongatha, Koroit, Cobram and Maffra

November 22 2917
ABC News

Troubled dairy co-operative Murray Goulburn has confirmed more than 70 jobs will go from its Victorian operations due to falling milk supply.   

The company has advised workers there will be 52 redundancies from Leongatha, nine from Koroit, seven from Cobram and five from Maffra.

Murray Goulburn said it would offer voluntary redundancies for most of the roles.

National Union of Workers' Victorian secretary Gary Maas said the cuts were a direct consequence of the company's actions.   

"It's our very strong view that this once very successful co-operative has been mismanaged to the extent where milk supplies have dropped by about a third, and we're now seeing this come through," Mr Maas said.   

"I've spoken to our organisers out in the field today and they're saying the workers are quite saddened by this news, but most of them aren't really shocked by it.

"They are happy that the redundancies that have been announced are voluntary.

"We do know that there are reduced supply at all of the sites.

"We did know that at some point they [the sites] would have to be affected. We were just hoping the impact will be kept to a minimum, but clearly that isn't the case."
Decision 'regrettable but necessary'
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Forget dollar a litre milk. The dairy crisis has more to do with global trade wars than it does with cheap supermarket milk.

Murray Goulburn general manager of milk supply and field services, Craig McRae, released a statement to suppliers saying the changes would significantly increase operational efficiency, while enabling the company to meet demand for Murray Goulburn dairy products.

"This decision is regrettable but necessary. These actions have been taken to ensure MG can deliver sustainable and competitive returns," he said.

In April 2016, Murray Goulburn announced sudden and retrospective milk price cuts to farmers, sparking a dairy crisis across the industry.

Many suppliers have left the company to supply others, with Murray Goulburn milk supply falling from 3.5 billion litres of milk to less than 2 billion litres.

The company is now the subject of a $1.3 billion takeover offer from Canadian giant Saputo, one of the 10 largest dairy companies in the world.

Dairy farmers will vote on the sale in early 2018.

The deal, which has the unanimous support of the board, also requires approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).
Big dilemma for company, dairy farmers' group says

United Dairyfarmers of Victoria president Adam Jenkins said while the job losses were unfortunate, they were understandable given the company's reduced milk intake.

"First and foremost our hearts go out to those people who have lost their jobs because it is a big dilemma," he said.

"But on the flipside, we know that Murray Goulburn and its suppliers are trying to get back to profitability, and with a reduced intake of milk inevitably there's going to be rationalisations going on.

"Murray Goulburn has had a lot lower milk intake, and you can't have milk coming into the plants and then having people being not able to process it.

"Obviously they've got to have a higher level of milk intake and the higher level of milk intake gives you more jobs, so that's why they're going through this rationalisation process."