Workers on AWA individual contracts employed at the South Burnett Meatworks in Queensland have missed out on tens of thousands of dollars in redundancy pay after the plant closed while workers on a union collective agreement will get their full redundancy entitlement, with some employees getting up to $19,000.

The collapse of the South Burnett Meatworks (Murgon, Qld) has exposed a major loophole in the Howard Government's WorstChoices IR laws, with redundancy pay not protected by the laws and not covered by the so-called 'Fairness Test'.

Over time, the lack of protection for redundancy pay in Howard’s IR laws will cause enormous hardship for thousands of working families across Australia that are affected by factory closures, company collapses and corporate restructuring says the ACTU.

ACTU President Sharan Burrow said:

"The unfair situation for workers on AWAs versus workers on a collective agreement at this meatworks has exposed a ticking time bomb in the IR laws that could affect up to a million Australian workers over the next five years.

"It exposes a gap in the WorkChoices IR laws with no requirement for redundancy pay to be included in a workplace agreement and no obligation for employers under the so-called 'Fairness Test' to compensate workers for the removal of redundancy entitlements.

230,000 workers are made redundant each year and the increasing use of AWAs that provide no redundancy entitlement means more than a million workers over five years could be affected.

Another reason to get rid of the Howard government and its unfair workplace laws.