National Textiles workers still waiting for money

National Textiles workers still waiting for money

By Alison Dellit

NEWCASTLE — In a significant victory for working people, Prime Minister John Howard announced on February 8 that cabinet had approved $4 million to pay the sacked National Textiles workers' entitlements that were not paid to them when the company closed its Rutherford mill. However, the sacked workers remain unsure as to when, or if, they will receive their money.

The package includes $2 million from the federal government and another $2 million from NSW government funds. This will be added to the $7 million allocated by the company's administrators from the sale of assets. The assets sale must take place before the government money is paid.

The government is to provide employment assistance, retraining schemes and set up a national contact number for employers willing to take on the former National Textiles workers.

The sacked workers, many of whom had given up hope of getting any money from the administrators, were relieved at the outcome. However, the news on February 9 that a member of the board of management is holding up the deal has frustrated hopes for a quick payout.

The manager is arguing that a "fire sale" will result in less money for all the creditors. He is backed by several of National Textiles' big business creditors. While Howard and federal cabinet are pushing for the creditors to take what they can and shut up, they show no signs of doing so.

"People are still pretty unhappy", Stan Davies of the textile workers' union told Green Left Weekly at the Rutherford picket line. "We won't we packing up and going home till we've got the money."

From GLW issue 393