Baby-seat workers to rally in Vic shops

Workers at Australia's last baby car seat manufacturer will rally in shopping centres as they fight to keep their jobs at Britax.

Employees walked off the job this week and are now in defiance of a Fair Work Commission back-to-work order, the Australian Workers' Union said in a statement on Thursday.

Britax Australia, the last local manufacturer of child car seats, has decided to close its Melbourne factory, cut almost half its Australian workforce and begin producing in China.

Manufacturing at the plant will wind down throughout 2017 but the first redundancies will be made by the end of this year.

"Britax is making money hand over fist at Sunshine because its products have an impeccable safety record and have been trusted by generations of Australian parents," AWU acting Victorian secretary Liam O'Brien said on Thursday.

"The decision to sack these workers is putting profits before safety."

In May, when Britax confirmed it would move production to China, managing director David Jackson said the plant was due for an upgrade.

"The company's manufacturing facilities are in need of considerable investment and that it is difficult for an Australian-based manufacturing operation to be efficient, particularly at a site which is almost 50 years old," Mr Jackson said in a statement.