Print Media Group keeps Wodonga closure quiet

Wodonga workers dealt another blow in the latest saga at South Pacific Print Group – formerly Paragon Printing, as management announce closure of the business that has been a lifeline to many locals.

Leo Moio, managing director of Print Media Group, which bought the business (then Paragon Printing) last year, announced the closure yesterday. “It is our intention to progressively close the Wodonga manufacturing facility over the coming months,” he said in a statement, which was released to only two media channels.

The news, which many staff heard for the first time today, is likely to have been extremely upsetting for employees who faced the prospect of unemployment last year when the business first entered voluntary administration and must now look for work elsewhere in a rural area.

In an interview with Print21 magazine in 2009, David Glavonjic, then CEO of Moore Business Systems, described Paragon Printing as “very important to the Wodonga fabric.”

“We carry both a social burden and responsibility for preserving as much as we can here because taking two or three jobs out of Wodonga has an enormous impact,” he said.

Leigh Diehm of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union believes that the closure will have a “huge” effect, listing the closure of Moore Australasia (not part of Print Media Group) next door, as a double whammy. “Our members will struggle to find work in an area of their expertise,” he said. “We have a lot of employment problems in this area, so to have even more on the unemployment market in a few months’ time will be a huge issue.”

After meetings, he expects that a wind-down will start next week, though staff at Moore Australasia – which employs 10 union members – may be able to remain working at the office until May.

Moio listed “significant market changes” as a contributing factor for the closure. “Work for the Wodonga site has been and will continue to be dramatically reduced to the point it has become unviable as a separate operation,” the statement said.

“Some SPPG staff will have the opportunity to relocate to our sites in Dandenong South and Heidelberg in Victoria.”

Moio did not return calls.