The largest union representing 270 white and blue-collar workers at the Kimberly-Clark Australia Millicent Mill has endorsed the restructure of the company.
The workforce was informed by management on Thursday the American owners were creating a new company called Kimberly-Clark IFP ANZ Pty Ltd.
It would run its Australian operations including the Millicent Mill for the Kimberly-Clark Corporation of the USA.
Lawyers from the Construction, Forestry, Manufacturing, Mining and Energy Union have examined the new arrangements and raised no objections.
The SE Voice has seen the memo to Millicent Mill employees which states there will be no changes to their status, service record, location, job title, salary, leave entitlements, severance pay and other aspects of their enterprise bargaining agreements.
In effect, they would have to resign from KCA and join the new entity which comes into effect on April 1.
If employees are unwilling to commit by February 28, the company memo states a notice of termination from the Millicent Mill might be issued.
In these cases, severance and termination payments would not be made.
The CFMMEU informed its 270 Millicent Mill members yesterday of its opinion of the restructure.
“(We are) confirming that our legal team have no issues regarding the Kimberly-Clark corporate restructure and your completion of the documents,” wrote Denise Campbell-Burns in a memo obtained by The SE Voice.
Ms Campbell-Burns is the CFMMEU Construction president and the Pulp and Paper Workers District secretary and is expected to take a key role in negotiating a new enterprise bargaining agreement which is due on July
1.
The SE Voice sent a number of detailed questions to the KCA headquarters in Sydney and received a statement from a spokesperson.
“There are no changes to the running of the Millicent Mill,” the spokesperson said.
“In 2024, K-C launched its Global Powering Care strategy to simplify our structure and enable us to act with speed and agility through a new, focused segment structure.
“As is often the case with structural changes of this kind, system changes are required to enable the two segments – International Personal Care and International Family Care & Professional – to operate efficiently and sharpen focus on their respective categories.
“As part of this process, we have introduced a new legal entity called Kimberly-Clark IFP ANZ Pty. Ltd.”
The Federal Government’s Australian Business Register states Kimberly-Clark IFP ANZ Pty Ltd was registered as an Australian private company on September 4 of last year.
The Kimberly-Clark Corporation released its annual worldwide results a week ago and noted production levels had increased at the Millicent Mill over the 2024 calendar year.