Marles campaigns for Viridian jobs

Industrials giant CSR announced last month it would close the former Pilkington’s glass factory by July citing a lack of demand for automotive glass.Mr Marles said he and delegates from Viridians and the Construction Forest Mining and Energy Union were exploring a range of options for keeping the plant open, including pursuing contracts to produce solar panels."EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">"We need to do whatever we can to keep the lights on because as long as the lights are on there is hope," he said.

"The main contract with Toyota, which CSR has now given notice on, was actually going through until 2011.

"That fact alone needs to be explored to see what more we can do because Toyota still need to source glass."

The decision to close the plant ended long-running speculation after CSR failed to outline its plans for the Geelong plant while announcing expansion plans for its Dandenong headquarters 18 months ago.

It is understood Viridian had been scaling back production at Geelong and Laverton since then.

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