Almost 40 employees could soon find themselves out of work after currency management company Armaguard announced it would abandon its Ballarat office.
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Employees of the Linfox-owned company were informed of the decision to scrap the Ballarat outlet on Monday afternoon, with operations to be shifted to the Essendon headquarters and the Bendigo branch.
While some of the 37 Ballarat staff will be offered redeployment, the jobs will be outside of the city. A staff member told The Courier the announcement came as a “complete shock” as management had said the branch would not be closing earlier in the year.
“It was completely out of the blue and it was the first (our manager) knew of it,” the employee said. “We were told it’s to cut costs and it will be more efficient if all the work is done from the Melbourne head office and we were told we had the option to work in Bendigo or Melbourne but that's not realistic for most people.
“For some people it’s been really devastating.” The Latrobe Street premises is expected to close its doors on November 17, one month after staff were informed of the decision.
An Armaguard spokesperson said the decline of the use of cash in the economy had forced to company to look for efficiencies. “Even though there’s still cash in the economy people aren’t using it as much as they used to,” the spokesperson said. “We’ve considered everything from internal point of view and we’ve communicated that quite widely.
“The main reason (for the closure) is that we’ve got to ensure we have a strong future for the business going forward and its more about reducing footprint and making sure it’s as efficient as possible.”
The business’ Mount Gambier premises is also set to be closed in the cost cutting exercise.
The closure caps off what has been a horror run for employment throughout Ballarat, coming just days after Oliver Footwear announced it would call time on 130 years of manufacturing in the city in favour of a cheaper overseas alternative.
About 30 employees will be forced to look elsewhere for employment when the institution closes its manufacturing plant in June before shifting its warehousing to Melbourne in September.
Window and door manufacturer Lontana also went into liquidation earlier this month, leaving more than 20 workers unemployed and out of pocket.
Ballaras Armaguard workers are a mix of casual, full time and permanent part time employees.
The jobs range from administration and management through to drivers and road crew responsible for transporting currency.
“The Ballarat and Mount Gambier sites were selected for closure based purely upon their geographical location, with the customers in these areas to be serviced by branches nearby,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
“All impacted employees have been offered alternative employment within Armaguard, these discussions are currently underway.
“We do this to secure a strong future for our business in this challenging market, and to meet ongoing customer needs by continuing to provide them intelligent, innovative and sustainable solutions.”
