Textiles Jobs Not Safe, Says Union
The Age
Friday April 27, 2001
The Federal Government had failed to protect the jobs of textile workers, the union said yesterday after the collapse of another fabric manufacturer.
Textile Clothing and Footwear Union state secretary Michele O'Neil said the government needed to establish assistance schemes to prevent further job losses.
Ninety workers lost their jobs when Brush Fabrics, in Abbotsford, was placed in receivership on Tuesday.
Ms O'Neil said Brush had not paid workers correct superannuation since last July and was concerned about whether workers would receive annual leave, long service leave and redundancy entitlements.
She said the receiver and manager, Joseph Loebenstein, from Green and Sternfeld, told her workers were owed at least $1million.
Calls to Mr Rutman were directed to Mr Loebenstein last night. Mr Loebenstein said in a statement he was investigating if operations could resume ``with a reduced workforce".
``Employee entitlements have priority repayment status and I am hopeful, but of course cannot guarantee, that there are sufficient assets to enable the payment of all employee entitlements," he said.
Ms O'Neil said the federal government's $700million, five-year assistance program for the textile industry could be accessed by companies outside the industry, had been delayed by bureaucracy and did not protect Australian jobs.
She said the Commonwealth was also intending to cut tariffs in 2005.
A spokeswoman for federal Industry Minister Nick Minchin said the textile industry and government agreed the best way to secure future viability was to encourage investment in research and development, which the government's $700 million assistance program aimed to do.
She said only legitimate textile, clothing and footwear companies could gain access to those funds.
© 2001 The Age