RECRUITERS have swooped on the remains of 1st Fleet after the transport company ceased trading just a week after it went into voluntary administration.
The recruiters milled at the locked gates of the Sunshine site as workers were told officially this morning that they no longer had a position with the company, which had been in operation since 1988.
About 150 employees arrived at 1st Fleet’s Melbourne headquarters in Sunshine this morning to be handed notices informing them they have been made redundant. An estimated 650 workers look set to lose their jobs Australia-wide.
But the move to collect workers has left a sour taste with some, with one worker describing recruiters as ‘‘vultures’’ picking over a carcass.
The company was placed in the hands of administrators de Vries Tayeh on Anzac Day, but the administrators announced the 1st Fleet Group of companies would cease trading at 11.55pm last night.
Robert Coustley, the director of Logical Staffing Solutions, drove a bus to the site this morning in a bid to pick up workers still shell-shocked by the news that the company had gone under.
‘‘We’ve been going for ten years now and we have never kept up with the demand,” Mr Coustley said, adding that he would get all the workers a job.
‘‘It’s only a matter of time … they come to us and we start them off casually and three months later they are permanent.
Vince Sasomazniovski, who has worked at 1st Fleet for 12 years, described the recruiters as ‘‘vultures to the pickings.”
He is set to start work at another company shortly but others might not be as lucky.
Recruiter Tony Jewson said “if they’re manufacturing jobs it’s a bit harder but if it’s transport-related there’s plenty of work”.
Mr Jewson said the sacked workers could be earning $32 an hour at other companies such as Toll and Visy.
Lisa, a mother of two with a mortgage, has been with the company for 20 years. “I had a bit of a tear before but it was more for the boys, not the job,” she said.
Luong Tieu said he was shocked to turn up for work as usual only to find the gates locked and jobs terminated.
“This morning we got told there was no more work. They just gave us the letter that told us that they were closed.”
The 53-year-old Sunshine man had worked at 1st Fleet as a forklift driver for the past five years.
He said workers are in the dark as to what will happen with the money they are owed.
“It was a big surprise. It is very important that I get looking for work so I can find another job.”
Cameron Stops from the National Union of Workers said many of 1st Fleet’s former staff faced an uncertain future.
“I suspect a lot of these guys will go from secure, full-time, permanent work and end up working in an insecure job through a labour hire agency somewhere,” Mr Stops said.
Matt Jennings, a project manager with Tate Tasman Access Floors, said his company had about $60,000 worth of stock at the Sunshine headquarters alone that his workers were now unable to access.
‘‘At this stage we’re not sure what we’re going to do. We’re just trying to get some answers. We have been given a phone number by the guys on the front gate but it is going straight to voicemail.’’
In a statement this morning, the company said the group’s “line of funding was not extended due to the director’s inability to meet certain pre-arranged commitments”.
“Without this line of funding the business could not continue,” the administrators said.
“This is a regrettable outcome but de Vries Tayeh are working closely with the Transport Workers Union to assist 1st Fleet’s workforce in being placed with other employment…
‘‘Outcomes from these negotiations will become clearer in a matter of days,’’ the administrators said in a statement.’’
Truck driver Paul Dittman said he was two hours into a trip from Melbourne to Sydney last night when he received a call from a forklift driver in Sydney saying the company had ceased trading just after midnight.
He was told he could either continue driving to Sydney, at which point he would be flown home, or he could turn around and drive back to Melbourne.
‘‘When I arrived back at the depot this morning we were all told to leave immediately.
‘‘A lot of guys have got wives and kids at home and we’ve all got a mortgage. It isn’t good.’’
Mr Dittman, who has worked for the company for 11 years, said workers were told as recently as last week that it was expected to take between six and 10 weeks for the administrators to formulate a plan and everyone was confident the group could continue trading.
‘‘To have this happen overnight, a lot of guys are pretty upset,’’ Mr Dittman said.
He said workers were talking with Transport Workers Union representatives at the Sunshine site this morning, and it was unclear whether they would receive their full entitlements.
The Transport Workers Union said it knew nothing of the terminations until this morning.
On its website, 1st Fleet says it is one of the largest privately owned logistics supply chain providers in Australia. It was established in NSW in 1988.
with Ben Millar
