FED: Union backs rescue plan for Pan

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FED: Union backs rescue plan for Pan

By Graeme Webber

SYDNEY, Aug 10 AAP - Pan Pharmaceuticals staff would take a commanding role in decidingthe future of their embattled company, a union said today.

Australian Workers' Union (AWU) national secretary Bill Shorten announced that a consortiumof investors had asked the union to back its bid for Pan, which remains under voluntaryadministration after an unprecedented mass product recall earlier this year.

The deal would ensure existing worker entitlements would be secured in a separate trustfund for at least three years and workers would have representation on a new board.

It would also mean all trade creditors would receive 100 cents in the dollar for outstandingdebts and jobs would be protected by keeping the factory at Moorebank in Sydney's south-west.

Mr Shorten said the union had considerable influence on the future of Pan due to votingrights of employees, but he conceded there were competing bids by other consortia.

A committee of creditors will consider the bid this Wednesday, with a full creditors'meeting due in the last week of August.

"I think the future of the company rests in the hands of the people whose livelihoodshave been affected by its collapse - the workers and the creditors," Mr Shorten said.

"So, we see an unusual situation where the workers at Pan Pharmaceutical will be ableto engage in a beauty parade to see which employer they want to see represent them.

"We also want to ensure that workers' entitlements are secure so these 140 workersnever need to go through again the sort of uncertainty they have experienced."

Workers who have been retrenched from Pan will also be given first preference if andwhen the business expands.

KPMG administrators Tony McGrath and Chris Honey could not be contacted for comment today.

Mr Shorten said about $10 million had been spent on administration since Pan was suspended,but the company remained viable.

Millionaire businessmen Fred Bart was backing the rescue bid along with a number ofproperty investors, the union said.

Mr Shorten said Pan founder Jim Selim would have to relinquish any future role with the company.

"I clearly think that to satisfy all the stakeholders, there needs to be a ... freshsheet of paper and that would not involve Mr Selim," he said.

The Therapeutic Goods Association suspended Pan's licence in April because of seriousquality and safety breaches relating to the manufacture of medicines.

More than 1,600 Pan products were subsequently recalled.

AAP gmw/drp/br

KEYWORD: PAN NIGHTLEAD