Press Release
NUW finds ray of hope for redundant National Parts workers
Thursday February 14, 2008
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NUW General Secretary Charlie Donnelly
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After days of uncertainty and angst there could be some good news for the 300 National Parts workers made redundant when the company went into administration on Tuesday, with the hope the business could be sold as an ongoing concern.
The National Union of Workers spoke with administrators KordaMentha today (Thursday February 14, 2008) to discuss that fate of its 80-plus members who were made redundant when the national auto part distributor closed its doors.
NUW General Secretary Charlie Donnelly said the meeting was welcomingly positive, with both the union and administrator keen to try to sell the business as an ongoing concern, and save as many jobs as possible.
“After speaking with the administrators we are yet to give up hope that these distribution centres cannot be resurrected,” Donnelly said.
“Time is obviously of the essence as it is important to get the businesses sold and back up and running as soon as possible to ensure previous customers can be retained.
“But after all the negative stories in the auto component industry in the past few years, this one has the hope of a result which does not see all workers losing their jobs and the NUW and our members will do everything in our power to assist KordaMentha in the potential sale process.
“There are still clients for these products and we believe that under new management this business could be rebuilt.”
Donnelly said the NUW had sought the proxy votes of all of its members to ensure there rights were looked after in all creditors meetings.
He said while the situation certainly looked grim on Tuesday, talks today suggested that if the businesses could not be salvaged there might be enough stock to cover most of the workers’ entitlements.
“We’ll know more about this when we meet with KordaMentha again next week. But obviously, the employees will be the first to receive their entitlements when the final carve-up of the business takes place.
“Our priority at the moment is to look after the best interests of our members whether that means helping to facilitate the sale of the business, ensuring our members receive the best possible redundancy package or assisting members to find new employment,” Donnelly said.
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Last modified 2008-02-14 03:08 PM
