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Fisher & Paykel Employment Expo

Whitegoods manufacturer Fisher & Paykel announced the closure of their Cleveland QLD plant (277 staff) and are due to shut operations on 3 April 2009 with the intent of moving the plant to China.

On Saturday 28 February 2009 Fisher & Paykel held an Employer Expo for their soon to be redundant workers. Six staff from five MAXEmployment sites in South East Brisbane attended the Expo along with other JobNetwork Members and various local employers and franchise companies.

Many of the workers who visited the MAXEmployment display had worked for the company for 18 years and admitted to being in a cocoon and unaware of a world that existed outside of their work at Fisher & Paykel.

Timely for the event was the Prime Minister's announcement of the Government's extra assistance for redundant workers and consequently we were able to deliver a positive message regarding our assistance.

The plant does not operate on Fridays but workers are contracted to remain until 2 April 2009.

Many of the workers appeared to be apprehensive and still in shock at the loss of their job, but were reassured by our MAXEmployment staff that we understood their situation and that they would be treated as a person rather than a number at any MAXEmployment Site, anywhere in Australia.