TMA sends Melbourne jobs offshore, union disappointed and alarmed

The union has expressed disappointment at a move by PMP suitor TMA Group to offshore Melbourne production and said it would be alarmed if there were similar plans for the nation's biggest printer.

Chief executive Anthony Karam told ProPrint that TMA was transferring its thermal paper manufacturing overseas as part of a joint venture deal signed in 2009 with the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.

Local production will cease by the end of July, according to Karam. The manufacturing is handled by the Bayswater site of TMA subsidiary Mark Sensing, which also does some converting.

Karam said about 25 of Bayswater's approximately 75 employees would lose their jobs, while the rest would remain with the site as it was converted into a distribution centre.

The national print division secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, Lorraine Cassin, called the decision "very disappointing" and said it had taken the union by surprise.

Karam said the strong Australian dollar and the carbon tax would have forced Bayswater to send its manufacturing offshore even if there hadn't been a three-year-old contractual obligation.

However, he said TMA had no plans to send more work overseas. "It's not on the cards at this stage," he said.

One man, who claimed to be a TMA employee, was critical of the decision to end manufacturing at Bayswater, which he described as "by far the most profitable arm of the business". Karam, though, said that was "completely incorrect".

Meanwhile, he confirmed that TMA remained committed to its proposal to take over PMP, despite the print giant's decision to close its books to TMA until "proof of funding capacity is provided".

"We're absolutely committed to the PMP transaction and from our perspective we're still full-steam ahead," he said.

Karam wouldn't be drawn on whether TMA'S plan for PMP included offshoring – something Cassin said would be poorly received by PMP's "highly unionised" workforce.

"We would be absolutely alarmed at the proposal of TMA taking over PMP if their model is to offshore work at any cost," she said.

However, industry sources told ProPrint that time pressures meant only "a fairly small percentage" of PMP printing could be sent overseas.

"You can't send a Women's Weekly or a Woman's Day overseas because your time frames kill you and lead times for retail catalogues are too short," said one.

Phone directories and some books were probably the only things that could be offshored, according to the sources.

Click here to read about the ups and downs of PMP.