Retrenched TCF employees swindled
The "Empty Promises" report - published by the Textile Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia (TCFUA) on October 1 - revealed the government's structural adjustment package (SAP) was being exploited by companies already benefiting from the $740 million Strategic Investment Program (SIP), confirmed TCFUA Victoria state secretary Michele O'Neil.
"The Howard Government can talk up its efforts to assist retrenched TCF workers, but it's patently clear that the program is biased towards companies while it leaves workers to fend for themselves," she said.
The SAP is funded by the Department of Industry Tourism and Resource (DITR) and administered by the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) through employment initiative Job Network; but an analysis in Victoria of the package's first year of operation from 2005 to 2006 revealed "a disturbing "As predicted by the union, delivery of the package solely through the Job Network system has meant that only a trickle of assistance has found its way to retrenched TCF workers," O'Neil said.
According to figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, in the eight months to August this year more than 40 per cent of individuals previously employed in the TCF industry lost their job due to retrenchment, redundancy, employers going out of business or dismissal due to lack of work.
In Victoria - where half of Australia's TCF workers are employed - the union was aware of around 700 retrenchments over the past year, but this did not represent the full "These are only the retrenchments that the union is aware of; there may be many more," she said.
However - with the sole exception of workwear label Yakka's Wodonga factory in June 2006 - no outreach program had been initiated by Job Network to ensure that TCF workers were aware of SAP at the point of retrenchment.
The report found TCF companies retrenching workers seldom notified DEWR staff responsible for liaising with Job Network staff, who in turn were "rarely aware" of the TCF SAP.
Job Network staff interviewed by the TCFUA claimed to be "confused by the details of the program", while retrenched workers calling DEWR to complain that Job Network was not providing SAP support also found DEWR complaints line staff were unaware of the SAP.
In response to the issues highlighted in the report, the TCFUA had devised a new SAP delivery model that would enable project workers to co-ordinate SAP information sessions, follow up and support for TCF workers facing retrenchment, Keating confirmed.
Wide-ranging recommendations for the new model included a strategy for working with retrenched factory workers prior to their departure from employment and implementation of accountable monitoring and public reporting systems. The deployment of independent TCF SAP project officers to facilitate collaboration between the union, community organisations, employers, Job Networks and RTOs was also mooted.
"There needs to be more of a 'special project' approach, so the SAP is administered in a targeted fashion with specially trained staff."
Currently there was "insufficient interface" between TCF companies and the SAP, Keating said.
Approval of SAP-funded training for reskilling retrenched TCF workers should also be "immediate and no longer be in the sole domain of Job Network staff," the report claimed.