Ford is set to slash one in five jobs in Australia, a total of 400, as part of global cost cutting, reports Yahoo Sports. Ford said the cuts were part of a global bid to ‘improve efficiency’ and shift operations towards future needs. Currently, 1,800 workers are employed by the company in Australia. Ford said about 400 roles will go from the Geelong area, southwest of Melbourne, union officials say. Most will be in product development and design with a small number in other areas. The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union's Vince Pepi said voluntary redundancies would take effect in September. "Approximately 350 of those (job losses) being white-collar workers and 50 to 45 being blue-collar workers," Pepi said. Victorian Jobs and Manufacturing Minister Ben Carroll said the state government would support Geelong's Ford workers.