The AMWU has welcomed moves to ensure DSI workers who have lost their jobs and entitlements receive support soon, but says the government still needs to fix the underlying problem.

NSW Secretary, Paul Bastian said that the Union had called for intervention by the Federal Government to ensure that there was an early payment to the DSI workers from the General Employee Entitlement Redundancy Scheme (GEERS), the Scheme.

“The workers at DSI were left with nothing so they needed payment of GEERS.  But the Scheme as it stands is still far from what workers and their families need when they face redundancy.”

“The current arrangement simply means that instead of putting aside their workers’ entitlements, unscrupulous employers use the money for day to day company expenses and if things go wrong they just point their workers to GEERS.”    

“Because they know GEERS is there and will cost them nothing, it acts as a green light to bad employers, who are using their workers’ entitlements to prop up their own bad management and investments.”

“While there have always been rogue employers, the current global economic meltdown has meant that thousands more workers and their families are at risk of losing their jobs and entitlements.”

“What happened at DSI should not be allowed to happen again to other workers and their families.”

Mr Bastian outlined the Union’s national campaign for a scheme that would genuinely protect the entitlements of Australian workers:

1. A national scheme to secure 100% of workers entitlements.
2. The Scheme should not be supported by Australian tax payers.  Employers are supposed to put aside their workers’ entitlements so that they are secure if the company has financial problems.
3. There must be changes to Federal Corporations Law. When a company enters administration  or receivership the company’s directors must be able to demonstrate to the Corporate Watchdog – ASIC – that they fulfilled all of their legal and financial responsibilities. If they fail this test, they should be prevented from holding any other corporate position.
4. ASIC (the Australian Securities and Investment Commission) needs enough resources so that it can properly investigate corporate behaviour.
5. There should also be a range of other penalties where company directors fail to do the right thing.

“We thank the minister for stepping in to help at DSI. We need her to step in now so that there are no more DSIs.”