Strike action threatens Camry, Aurion production

STRIKE action at component supplier Intercast & Forge was threatening to halt – but did not succeed in stopping – production at Toyota Australia’s Altona plant in Victoria yesterday as the company announced the deal to produce a hybrid Camry from 2010.

A castings and forgings supplier, Intercast & Forge is a tier-one supplier to Toyota and a tier-two supplier to Holden and Ford. Workers commenced a week-long strike last Wednesday, June 4.

As of last night, the strike action – which was entering its seventh day and was initiated after unsuccessful negotiations on a new enterprise agreement – had not affected vehicle production.

“Currently, there is no impact on production but we are monitoring it very closely,” a Toyota Australia spokesperson told GoAuto last night. He said he was unable to elaborate on when production would be affected.

As tier-two clients, and therefore not as reliant as Toyota on Intercast & Forge components, Ford and Holden were also operating as normal last night – but were expecting to be impacted should the strike action continue.

“We have a potential idea depending on the situation, but it’s not in the next two days,” a Holden spokesperson told GoAuto. “In some ways, our own suppliers will advise us … (We) don’t know if it’s as soon as this week.” A Ford Australia spokesperson said that, should the strike action run longer than a week, production at its Broadmeadows plant in Victoria could be affected.

“They’re a tier-two supplier so it won’t affect us directly (but) we’re looking at our stock levels carefully,” he said.

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