Changes fail to protect workers

Date: 05 April 2000

The ACTU will tell a parliamentary committee tonight that proposed changes to Corporations Law are meagre and fail to protect vulnerable workers.

The changes are designed to make directors more accountable when employees lose accumulated benefits when a company collapses.

ACTU Secretary Greg Combet said the changes were welcome, but inadequate and too narrow.

"Directors must be liable for unpaid entitlements in all cases. This bill only places the onus on a director when the company is in liquidation, and that is not good enough," Mr Combet said.

The ACTU welcomed the introduction of a penalty for directors who avoided their liabilities, but rejected the proposal that a worker must prove the director's intentions.

"This is too much to expect of employees," said Mr Combet. "Of course this sort of deceitful behaviour by a director should be a criminal offence, but it is plainly unfair to ask an employee to establish guilt.

"People who have lost their income when a company folds cannot afford to waste time and pay legal costs proving the director is at fault - they need their money immediately."

Mr Combet also said the Government had acted with stealth by planning to introduce the Basic Payments Scheme administratively, rather than opening it to the scrutiny of parliament. The restricted safety net scheme will pay workers a maximum $20,000 when a company collapses.

"I wrote to Workplace Relations Minister Reith in February asking for a meeting to discuss this scheme," said Mr Combet. "Two months later, we have heard nothing. We have no idea when this scheme will be introduced.

"Workers should be protected by a full, compulsory insurance scheme. Money owed to employees will never be safe until we have a fully funded insurance scheme."

For further information

Contact:	ACTU Senior Industrial Officer, Suzie Jones
Union:	ACTU
Phone:	0412 549 939
Fax:	(03) 9663 8220
WWW:	http://www.actu.asn.au

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