The AMWU has welcomed the federal government decision to extend the GEERS system to protect the full redundancy entitlements of workers in the event of a company collapse.

The decision to fund the entitlements ahead of the introduction of legislation delivering the ‘Fair Entitlements Guarantee’ promised in the election will provide surety for families facing redundancy.

Dave Oliver, AMWU National Secretary, said that under the previous GEERS regime thousands of workers and their families had seen decades of work amount to very little as directors wound up companies without assets to cover what they owed their workforce.

“In many cases, workers were informed that they did not have a job, that the money was gone and that they would receive the minimum payment of 16 weeks redundancy.”

The Labor Party committed to replace GEERS with a legislated system and fund redundancy entitlements on an effectively uncapped basis during the 2010 election.

“We are very pleased that the government has decided to make sure workers who are made redundant before the legislation can begin operating are not left unemployed and penniless - as many before them have been.”

Mr Oliver said that the surety for workers was a key win, but that the union would keep campaigning to ensure employers who engage in illegal conduct are prosecuted, and the new scheme does not become a way for employers to transfer their costs onto the taxpayer

“In our experience of dealing with company administrations, often directors have traded insolvent, and usually they have not taken proper care to ensure the entitlements of their employees are safe.

“The new scheme will mean workers no longer bear the injustice of these actions, but we must also ensure strong laws also prevent employers from escaping accountability for their actions."