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Volume 5, Wednesday March 18th, 2009
Job losses hit local revenues The loss of 135 jobs from Roxby Downs would cost local business around $6 million in reduced revenue. This is the estimate by the chairman of the Roxby Retail Traders Association, Leigh Malcolm, responding to the news of the 85 redundancies and the transfer of 50 existing Olympic Dam jobs to Adelaide by BHP Billiton last week. “Business conditions are tight and they just got tighter,” said Mr Malcolm. But he is confident that Roxby business will weather the downturn better than metropolitan Adelaide because local job losses so far had been “pretty minimal” in terms of the 3000 people employed on the mine. He is also confident in the future of the OD expansion saying that considering the extreme labour shortages of the past few years and with the price of oil and steel both down there could be a good case for going ahead with the open cut project. “Tough times don’t last but tough people do,” he said.
Worked Up
According to a BHP Billiton spokeswoman, about half of the 85 people made redundant last week were Roxby residents. “Of the impacted employees, 21 were residing in BHP Billiton owned or leased housing,” the BHPB spokeswoman said. Asked how the reduction in numbers would affect the 200 new housing blocks being worked up by York at Copper Sands Stage Three she said: “At this stage we are continuing with the latest land development as scheduled.” According to real estate agents there are currently 65 houses for sale in Roxby Downs and another 40 on the rental market. They expect the numbers to grow following last week’s job losses. According to Michele Hales,
executive officer of the Roxby Downs Council board, most of the workers let go had between ten and 20 years in the town. “Whole families will be leaving town and it will affect many of their partners who are working in other businesses in the town,” Ms Hales said. “They include teachers and health workers so the effects are being felt throughout the town.” She said many of the sacked workers were volunteers so a number of replacements were needed to step up to fill the vacancies that will be created when they leave town. She said the BHP Billiton Matched Giving Program, through which the company contributed $10 an hour to the organisations to which its employees volunteered their services on an hourly basis, could mean volunteer groups suffering funding shortfalls as a result. In 2008 BHP Billiton’s Matched Giving Program kicked in more than $90,000 to local volunteers organisations. Principal of the Roxby Downs Area School, Kath McAlister said teachers had become aware of only a couple of families with redundancy notices from BHP Billiton. “There are also two teachers with partners at the mine who have been laid off and in both cases the teacher is now the chief breadwinner and no plans have been made to move out of town yet,” Principal McAlister said. She said many local parents had become very worried about losing their jobs as the rumour mill shifted into high gear on the long weekend ahead of the redundancy announcement. “Is it going be us?” was on everybody’s mind and to some extent the announcement has made people feel a bit more secure because the rumours are always blown up out of all proportion to the reality, Principal McAlister said. “It is a sad and difficult time for many of us but people are now cop-
ing reasonably well. “Let’s hope copper prices go up,” she said. Local Raine and Horne franchisee Craig Sumsion said he had not noticed any real effect on the real estate market yet but he expected there would be some extra vacancies on his company’s rent roll as a result. “In the case of a couple with the wife still working, they can’t very well pack up and go and I expect that in many cases they will ride it out and see what happens,” Mr Sumsion said. He remains positive saying we’ve had 17 years of “real good years” and it was natural that the cycle would eventually turn around. “I’m confident in the future of this place,” he said.
Cost situation BHP Billiton spokesman Richard Yeeles said steep falls of copper prices in particular have meant the company has had to review its operations. “In terms of Olympic Dam, copper price has fallen by more than 60%,” he said. “With revenues falling like that the company has to look at its cost situation on an ongoing basis.” Despite the job losses, Mining Minister Paul Holloway remains positive about Olympic Dam’s current employment operations and its future. “Olympic Dam will continue to employ more than 3,000 people, larger than the workforce inherited by BHP Billiton following its takeover of WMC in mid-2005,” he said. “The restructuring of existing operations will allow the Olympic Dam project to continue to operate efficiently as possible and focus on delivering its 2009 production targets at a time when other mines around Australia are being shut down or operations suspended indefinitely.”
“Where’s it all gone, Mum?” says Georgia Oldfield to Mum Tracey after she shaved her head for charity. Story and photos on page 5.