More than 250 workers at ACL Bearings Co. (a division of Automotive Components Ltd., Australia) have agreed to start working four-day weeks through June or July, with management taking a 16% pay cut.
Founded in 1949, ACL is Australia's only thinwall engine bearing manufacturer, and also produces some other powder metal components. ACL is the sole engine bearing supplier to Ford, Holden, and Toyota in Australia, and holds a major portion of the aftermarket.
In addition to its Aluglide and Duraglide engine bearings, ACL manufactures bushings, cam bearings, thrust washers, and bearings for rocker arms, gudgeon pins, power steering units, transaxles, and similar components.
ACL does all this from a single facility, located in Launceston, Tasmania and employing close to 300 workers. The Launceston bearing factory is actually four separate facilities, vertically integrated, from strip to finished bearings. Since early 2008, ACL has cut its workforce by 25%, and overall employment is down almost 50% from its peak.
Approximately half of ACL's output is exported, to more than 55 countries. Annual sales are in the neighborhood of $50 million.
Sales so far this year are down by more than 30%.
Ivan James, ACL Chairman, said: "We decided it was better to save jobs through reduced hours rather than tip people into the ranks of the unemployed at a time when they would struggle to find alternative employment."
Hourly workers at ACL's four manufacturing facilities are represented by the Australian Manufacturers and Workers Union.
ACL has been flirting with danger for some time.
This past December, ACL received government funding to help it with extra time to replace an expired credit facility when GE Finance decided to stop doing business in Australia.
In April 2008, ACL was reportedly less than 48 hours from being forced to shut down; a government bailout package kept it going.
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