Quick pay promise for airline staff

[Wirraway]

AAP. .. .Quick pay promise for airline staff. .By Phillip Hudson. .Political Correspondent. .Canberra. .March 6 2002. .. .The Federal Government will fast-track the payment of outstanding entitlements to sacked Ansett workers, promising to deliver within five working days of receiving details from the administrator.. .. .Workplace Relations Minister Tony Abbott has stepped in to speed up the process, which usually takes up to four weeks, for the 2800 workers who lost their jobs when a deal to save Ansett collapsed last week.. .. .Mr Abbott said the government was working closely with the Ansett administrator.. .. ."Five working days after we receive the information from the administrator we'll pay the entitlements," Mr Abbott told The Age.. .. .The government said it did not know how much the payment, which is covered under its taxpayer-funded safety net, would cost. It is waiting for the administrator to provide the names of sacked workers and the details of their entitlements.. .. .The government safety net covers all unpaid wages, annual leave, long-service leave and up to eight weeks' redundancy.. .. .However, many Ansett workers are owed more than eight weeks' redundancy, with some estimated to be entitled to 100 weeks pay. The administrator has warned that they could face a wait of up to two years for that part of their entitlement.. .. .Labor said yesterday it would put forward legislation in Federal Parliament next week to allow Ansett workers to take Federal Court action to seek their entitlements from Air New Zealand.. .. .Shadow attorney-general Robert McClelland said there was an urgent need for new laws to enable workers to recover their full entitlements from parent or holding companies that had materially contributed to a corporate collapse.. .. .He said the bill would seek to stop companies such as Air New Zealand from insulating themselves from responsibility when a subsidiary collapsed.. .. ."This is all about preventing companies hiding behind the corporate veil to avoid their obligation to employees," he said.. .. .Mr McClelland said Air New Zealand was a classic case because it was refusing to be responsible for entitlements, yet its chief, Gary Toomey, was the public advertising face of Ansett, which proved that there was a close link.. .. .Under the proposed law, the court would be asked to consider the extent to which the parent company took part in the management of the subsidiary. The bill would be retrospective to cover Ansett workers.. .. .New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark yesterday raised the ire of former Ansett workers by labelling the airline a "lemon" purchase for Air New Zealand.. .. ."I think Ansett was an airline with quite considerable problems which Air New Zealand foolishly bought into lock, stock and barrel without any due diligence, in order to keep Singapore Airlines out," Ms Clark said.. .. .ACTU secretary Greg Combet said the unions were looking at avenues for legal action against Tesna for employees who had turned down jobs and even moved to Melbourne from other states with the promise of work. Mr Combet met barrister Josh Bornstein, who assisted unions during the 1998 docks dispute and Jonathan Beach, QC, to discuss options.. .. ."We don't want to raise hopes (but) this has been a bitter disappointment for these people," Mr Combet said.. .. .However, he said hundreds of jobs could be saved as assets such as Ansett's regional operators and maintenance base were sold. Negotiations between Ansett administrators and interested parties were continuing.. .. .- with AAP