SPC Ardmona inks enterprise agreement with AMWU

By Robert Giles, CEO SPC Ardmona

SPC has been a key employer for many decades in the Shepparton area and across Victoria.

We are proud of our rich heritage providing natural and convenient products for Australian families.

This week, the business and our employees, after working closely with the AMWU for several months, overwhelmingly voted in favour of the new Enterprise Bargaining Agreement.

The three-year agreement is an important milestone designed to create a partnership between SPC and our workforce to move the company into a more modern and flexible work arrangement.

It will ensure that new enterprise-wide technology is successfully rolled out to allow SPC to compete with global food producers in both Australian and international markets.

This will go a long way in ensuring that manufacturing jobs remain in Australia.

We look forward to the Fair Work Commission ratifying the Agreement as this will go a long way in ensuring that manufacturing jobs remain in Australia.

We want to grow our footprint further as we expand our product offering and continue to transform into a global agri-business.

With expansion and new technology, we know we will need to build the skills of our workforce.

If we take a look back over our 100-plus year history, the way we do things today is very different from how we did them in the beginning.

There is no doubt that over the next decade, innovation will change how we manufacture as well as how we approach logistics and distribution.

In July, the federal government announced its $2 billion JobTrainer program in its latest economic stimulus package.

The investment will give thousands of Australians the opportunity to retrain and upskill into job sectors like manufacturing which were identified by the government as key growth drivers for our economic recovery.

It’s no secret that many people are out of work right now, particularly young people and its packages like JobTrainer that will ensure their economic success by either returning to, or entering, the workforce.

We welcome packages like JobTrainer that not only keep our economy moving forward during these challenging times but invests in our workforce’s future.

By training a skilled workforce we ensure that businesses like SPC can continue operating and creating jobs in Australia.

It will also set us up for success as we continue to grow our reach in the global marketplace as a modern, competitive and advanced manufacturer.

We look forward to seeing more details on the rollout of this package over the coming weeks.

Robert Giles is CEO, SPC Ardmona. In June, 2019 Coca-Cola Amatil sold its SPC fruit and vegetable processing business to Shepparton Partners Collective for $40 million.

Picture: SPC Ardmona

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