By Andrew Starke
Foster’s is to cut up to 50 jobs at its Abbotsford brewery in Melbourne this month as management looks to slash costs.
The redundancies are part of an efficiency improvement program designed to reduce spend and new Foster’s CEO John Pollaers appears to have the company’s aging Abbotsford brewery in his sights.
It is believed that the company will begin the process by offering voluntary redundancy packages.
The Abbotsford brewery has about 300 employees and talks between management, staff and unions began yesterday (May 18).
In February 2009 Foster’s axed 115 maintenance staff from its flagship brewery following the signing of a five-year deal with maintenance provider ABB Australia.
In other news, Foster’s has appointed Dean Matthews to the role of Chief Information Officer (CIO), effective from Monday May 23.
“Dean has previously held senior technology and executive leadership roles with Transurban, Linfox and MLC Lend Lease,” said the company in a statement.
“He is a proven CIO holding a demonstrated track record in leading large scale organisational change, having managed major IT integrations, mergers & acquisitions and other complex and strategic projects.”