The impact of the retrenchment of Mitsubishi workers on affected workers, their families and communities

Fran Baum, Gwyn Jolley

This project is examining the impact of retrenchment on Mitsubishi workers on their health, housing status and labour force participation and the implications for human services policies and practices. The SA Department of Health ‘Health Services Research and Innovation Program’ and the Australian Research Council are funders of this research. The project is multidisciplinary, drawing together researchers from community and public health, housing studies, geography, labour studies, and social administration. It is being led by Professors Fran Baum (Public Health and SACHRU), Andrew Beer (Southern Research Centre of the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, Sue Richardson (National Institute of Labour Studies) and Dr Fiona Verity, School of Social Administration and Social Work. Dr Anna Ziersch, Dr Lareen Newman and Dr Guangyu Zhang from the Department of Public Health are also contributing to the research.

The retrenchment of approximately 1000 permanent workers from Mitsubishi Motors (Australia) Limited’s (MMAL) Lonsdale foundry and reduction of activities at Tonsley Park is expected to have a significant impact on the lives of retrenched workers, their families and communities. Southern Adelaide is vulnerable to the effects of restructuring because it has an under-developed industrial base with few large employers in the region and a weaker entrepreneurial culture when compared with other parts of Adelaide. There are also significant pockets of low income and relative deprivation and associated poor health outcomes, and high rates of youth unemployment in the region. Social services are already under considerable pressure and some health services, such as general practitioners, are in short supply compared with the rest of Adelaide.

The research is a longitudinal study exploring mental and physical health, disruption of social networks, prospects for re-employment, attributes and behaviours of the workers that are associated with good outcomes, demand for social and health services, levels of housing stress and impact on children and young people. The research findings will inform policy and service development to help South Australians better prepare for large-scale employment changes in the future.

The research has five key objectives:

1. To track the changing effects of job loss over the critical transition period
2. To conduct detailed investigations with sub-samples of the above populations
3. To study the impact of job losses on the children of retrenched workers
4. To assess the perceived impact of job losses on the region by service providers
5. To provide policy recommendations based on the above research. The research outcomes of the project will identify the most effective re-employment strategies of retrenched workers and what services were valuable in assisting them.

Data collection has included a series of three quantitative interviews over two years with over 300 retrenched workers, and two rounds of qualitative interviews with a sub-set of 39 respondents. Quantitative responses are being compared with the adult male metropolitan Adelaide population through the SA Health Monitor. In addition, a focus group with children of affected workers was held and data from this informed interviews with approximately 20 children about their perceptions of what the changes have brought to the family. A survey of health and community services in the region and a follow up forum have also been completed to help in assessment of the impact on service organisations. It is hoped that this information will help in service planning for the region and for other areas facing similar job losses.

An enormous volume of data has been collected and the research team is coming to grips with the challenges of analysis and writing within a multi-disciplinary approach. Experience from the first round of interviews indicates a diversity of responses, though many workers are indicating stress levels above their normal experience. Higher levels of mental health distress, and lower levels of sense of control and hope for the future, were evident in the retrenched workers when compared to a randomised sample of men in Adelaide. Social activity and connectedness also appeared to be reduced in at least half the respondents.