Toyota's new pay deal for employees rejected by Federal Court ruling Holden workers are coming to terms with the multination pulling out of Australia which could lead to Toyota following suit. TOYOTA has been dealt a crushing blow to its Australian operations after a court ruling knocked back a bid to put a new pay deal to employees. The company, Australia's last standing car manufacturer, had hoped to slash $17 million in running costs at its Altona plant under the proposal that asked 2500 employees to vote on a new enterprise deal. Workers had been due to vote on the new workplace agreement on Thursday which the company said was about "improving flexibility and removing outdated and uncompetitive practices and allowances that increase labour costs and reduce global competitiveness." But, in a complex 38-page judgment handed down in the Federal Court, Justice Mordecai Bromberg said the car company could not force employees to vote on the reduced conditions. Toyota proposed the extensive changes to its workplace agreement last month, more than a year before the agreement was set to expire in March 2015. The Federal Court has ruled against Toyota striking a deal that reduces benefits and conditions for workers at its Altona plant. It would have seen employees vote on proposed variations seeking to significantly reduce their benefits and entitlements. Justice Bromberg found the proposed variations constituted the making of "further claims" and therefore breached Toyota's workplace agreement and contravened the Fair Work Act. Despite ruling in favour of Toyota workers, he stopped short of granting them an injunction they had called for that would have stopped Toyota from making any claims in relation to wages and other conditions until March 2015. Toyota Australia President and CEO Max Yasuda said he was disappointed with the outcome. "We believe that we are within our rights to vary our Workplace Agreement provided the majority of our employees support the changes through a formal vote," Mr Yasuda said. GM Holden's planned closure in 2017 will put our manufacturing operations and the local supplier network under unprecedented pressure, so it is now more important than ever before that we make urgent changes. The proposed changes were designed to remove outdated and uncompetitive terms and conditions that make it difficult to compete with other Toyota plants throughout the world. The company has put in place a project known as the Toyota Australia Future Business Transformation for the period 2012 to 2018, aimed at improving efficiencies and cutting $3800 out of the cost of building a car in Australia. It has said it will honour two scheduled pay rises in 2014, at a cost of $17 million, ahead of the new agreement starting in 2015. The company is considering whether it will appeal the decision.