G.M.-Holden’s Cuts Staff

Press, Volume C, Issue 29436, 11 February 1961, Page 13

G.M.-Holden’s Cuts Staff

(Rec. 10 p.m.) MELBOURNE, Feb. 10.

General Motors Holden’s, Ltd.—the Australian subsidiary of the American company—will dismiss more than 2600 men from its plants throughout Australia in the next fortnight.

Announcing the dismissals todav. the managing director of G.M.H., Mr H. W. Gage, said there would be a substantial cut in the production of all G.MH. vehicles—the Australian -designed Holden, and the Vauxhall Chevrolet, Pontiac, and Bedford lines. He said about 800 men would be dismissed from the company’s main plants at Dandenong and Fishermen's Bend. Victoria, another 1550 would be dismissed in South Australia. 220 in New South Wales, 50 in Queensland, and 12 in Western Australia

Mr Gage said that the dismissals and production cuts were the result of the "drastic drop” in sales of new and used motor vehicles since the Federal Government introduced credit restrictions and increased the sales tax on new cars and station waggons from 30 to 40 per cent The credit restrictions were also attacked today by the chairman of the Australian Hire Purchase Conference. Mr O. D Bisset

Mr Bisset was commenting on a statement by the Federal Treasurer, Mr Harold Holt that hire purchase companies would increase their support to the car industry once they had adjusted their internal fin-

ancial positions in certain ways.

Mr Bisset said: “Until or unless the restrictions are eased, the hire purchase companies will not be in a position to resume business at previous levels." Rootes (Australia), Ltd., dismissed 90 men from its Melbourne plant today.

The Rootes retrenchment is the second since Christmas, and brings the total number of men dismissed from the Melbourne plant to 205. The company assembles Hlll-

man, Humber, Singer and Sunbeam cars and Commer and Karrier trucks and commercial vehicles. U.S. Dismissals In Detroit, American Motors announced today that it will lay off 4100 workers indefinitely and Ford and Chrysler reported new oneweek layoffs for 17.200 employees as the motor industry continued efforts to adjust production and inventories to sagging sales. The American Motors-Chrysler-Ford layoffs are tn addition to 46,500 one-week layoffs previously announced for next week by General Motors.