Workers have again called for former ACL Directors to repay nearly $700,000 worth of severance payments after it was announced that up to 120 jobs will be cut from Auto Components Ltd (ACL).

The company, which went into receivership last month, employs around 350 workers in Launceston and Brisbane. Receivers Grant Thornton have called for volunteers for between 80 -120 redundancies. The average shortfall in entitlements for workers is around 80 weeks pay.

The 7:30 Report filed the story below:

AMWU Assistant National Secretary, Glenn Thompson, said the union was working with receivers and the state and federal governments to ensure workers were supported as much as possible.

“There is no doubt these job losses a devastating blow for ACL workers and their families and will have a huge impact on the Launceston community,” said Mr Thompson.

“The fact that ACL directors awarded themselves massive severance payments while workers voluntarily took a 20% pay cut to keep the company viable and now stand to lose a significant portion of their entitlements makes things even harder to bear.

“It is morally corrupt behaviour and the AMWU calls again for John Capuano and Michael Saward to repay the money.

“The AMWU is working with receivers on the ongoing restructure of the company and we hope that job losses will be minimised.

“ACL remains a good company with a highly skilled workforce.

“But unfortunately the situation workers find themselves in is far too common.

“That is why we are calling for reform to corporations law to make Directors personally accountable for employee entitlements.

“A universal scheme to fully protect employee entitlements is also crucial to ensure workers like those at ACL are paid what they are owed when companies go under.