Workers protected from dodgy bosses rip-offs

25 July 2010

Union members and their families will welcome today's announcement that the Gillard Government plans to improve the protection of workers' entitlements, and crack down on unscrupulous bosses, AWU National Secretary, Paul Howes , said today.

“ Too often we’ve witnessed dodgy bosses rip off their workers’ redundancy pay, superannuation and holiday leave when companies mysteriously go under for no foreseeable reason.

Protecting workers' entitlements has been a priority campaign issue

 “ And too often, gallingly,  we would witness the same people, seemingly unaffected, back in operation, just weeks later, but with a different brand name  – while the workers and their families were left out of pocket.

 “ Our union has campaigned for worker entitlement reform for several years. It has been a priority issue. Too many AWU members have been hurt by disappearing entitlements – or know someone in their family or neighbourhood who has been hurt badly after a company collapsed..

 “ Now the campaign has delivered results.  The Federal Government has released today their Fair Entitlements Guarantee,” Paul Howes said.

Families had been left out of pocket because of unethical behaviour by employer

 “ The measures announced will mean almost all workers will receive redundancy payments in full when their employer goes out of business, and dodgy company directors will be less able to rip off their workforce.”

 Labor has shown that they understand the needs of working families who want to secure their jobs and their incomes.

 Tony Abbott’s record in the former Howard Government showed a callous disregard for the plight of workers who, through no fault of their own, are left out of their pocket because of unethical behaviour by their employer.

Fair Entitlements Guarantee protects redundancy, super and leave rights

 The Fair Entitlements Guarantee will mean that 97% of workers would receive their redundancy entitlements in full in cases where their employer went out of business without having made provisions for entitlements.

 “There is nothing worse than for a worker to first lose their job, and then discover that their employer has not made provision for their entitlements to redundancy, superannuation, and leave,”

 . “This is effectively theft from the pockets of workers, and unions have been leading campaigners for a better deal for workers. This type of unethical corporate behaviour was again on display during the economic downturn, and it must stop.

Crackdown on dubious practices

 The Protecting Workers Entitlements package announced by the Labor Government today will be welcomed whole-heartedly by workers and unions. It means that workers will receive a guarantee of full redundancy pay up to four weeks for every year of service, a vast improvement on the Howard Government’s GEERS scheme , which was capped at 16 weeks.

 “Importantly, the Government intends to crack down on the dubious practice of phoenix companies, where directors shift assets to a new company to avoid their obligations. This must be backed by strong and harsh penalties for company directors who engage in such practices,” Paul Howes said.

 The Liberals could not be trusted with the job and income security of working Australians. They cannot be trusted on WorkChoices and the Liberals forfeited any credibility with their opposition to the economic stimulus package that saved more than 200,000 jobs during the GFC.