A TOTAL of 1850 Ford workers in Melbourne have now been stood down without pay as the effects of the industry's latest strike action hit home.
The carmaker said today it had been forced to tell an additional 600 workers not to turn up for work on Monday after standing down 1250 engine and assembly line employees at its Broadmeadows and Geelong plants yesterday.
The stand-downs follow a walk-out yesterday by 242 workers at Venture Industries, which supplies Ford with more than 1500 major plastic components.
The Venture staff claim they are owed $25 million in entitlements after the firm announced it was closing down the operation and moving to a different site elsewhere in Melbourne.
Ford spokeswoman Sinead McAlary tonight said the manufacturer had also lodged a submission with the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) in an attempt to have the union-led Venture strike action suspended.
