WORKERS described their reactions in simple terms. Some were “shocked”, others “stunned” or “gutted” on hearing the news thatPacific Brands would cut 1850 of their jobs in the next 18 months.

“Bonds is an Australian brand and you expect it to keep going,” he said. “They installed six new machines just before Christmas; and they pulled the plug today.”

“We have young people who have just started out with their families and mortgages,” he said. “They are disappointed. It is very bad news.”

WORKERS described their reactions in simple terms. Some were “shocked”, others “stunned” or “gutted” on hearing the news thatPacific Brands would cut 1850 of their jobs in the next 18 months.

As union officials held what they described as an unproductive meeting with management at the Bonds factory in western Sydney, workers of the seven factories to close in NSW, Victoria and Queensland wondered how they would find work in a downturn.

Father of two John Bracun, 45, who started at Bonds when he was 19, was shocked that the Wentworthville factory and all its 233 jobs were to go.

“Bonds is an Australian brand and you expect it to keep going,” he said. “They installed six new machines just before Christmas; and they pulled the plug today.”

Peter Basto, 62, said that while he was close to retirement age, he was worried about others.

“We have young people who have just started out with their families and mortgages,” he said. “They are disappointed. It is very bad news.”

Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union NSW secretary Barry Tubner said his members felt gutted by the decision.

He said they were disgusted at the way the company — makers of Bonds, KingGee, Yakka and Berlei — made the announcement tothe stock exchange before talking to their employees.

The 74 mostly women workers at the KingGee factory at Bellambi on the NSW south coast were in tears after they learnt they were to lose their jobs.

Maryanne Metcalf, from the Wollongong Bonds factory, said they were on a morning tea break when the announcement came that all 207 of them were to lose their jobs.

“Everyone was just silent, they just looked at each other, stunned, absolutely stunned,” she said.

“The manufacturing is all going to China, there’s no point in supporting Bonds. Bonds don’t deserve their dinky-di Aussie reputation, not after this. We have lost our jobs. I have kids and a mortgage, the lot, it affects us all.”

About 1200 jobs will be lost from the factory floor; 233 at Wentworthville, 83 at Cessnock in the NSW Hunter Valley, 207 in Wollongong, 56 at West End in Queensland, 255 from Holeproof at Nunawading in Victoria and 298 from Hosiery at Coolaroo, also in Victoria.

There will be 650 redundancies among non-manufacturing employees spread across the business.

TCFU national secretary Michele O’Neil said the union did not accept that the closure of seven factory sites was necessary, claiming several brands continued to be profitable.

“This is a devastating blow to these workers and their families, this industry and Australia,” she said.

Ms O’Neil said Pacific Brands had received $17 million in government assistance in the past two years yet appeared to think they had no obligation to keep jobs in Australia.

Pacific Brands chief executive Sue Morphet said the company was launching a new strategy known as Pacific Brands 2010, to restructure their business after a 2.9 per cent drop in sales. She said closing most of the Australian clothing manufacturing operations, discontinuing small labels and selling off properties, including the large site at Wentworthville, was the only responsible course and would save $150 million a year.

Business — Page 17

John Durie — Page 26

Credit: John Stapleton