100 signatures reached
To: Piper Alderman and LCM Litigation Fund
Justice for Empire Rubber workers!
Give workers their money. Waive the millions of dollars in legal fees that have been pocketed leaving workers with nothing.
Why is this important?
NUW members in Bendigo recently won a protracted legal case to get entitlements they were owed paid to them following the collapse of Empire Rubber in 2006. However of the $4.5 million win, workers will never see a cent. Nothing. All because corporate law firms are swallowing the win up in fees.
LCM Litigation Fund Pty Ltd and Piper Alderman have pocketed 91% of the win, $4.1 million dollars, while their clients have been told they will never see any money and there is nothing they can do.
NUW member and former Empire Rubber worker Shane Hogan is owed $15,000. His wife Tracy has said that “To get a letter saying that it’s all been eaten up in fees is very disappointing.”
“A lot of people who were laid off did not gain employment afterwards, so they were really relying on getting that money”.
Members refuse to accept this gross denial of justice.
We are calling on Piper Alderman to waive their fees and give their clients the money they have won.
The Law Institute of Victoria’s code of ethics calls for lawyers to “advance their clients’ interests above their own” and to “charge fairly for their work”. Clearly Piper Alderman have failed in their ethical obligations to NUW members at Empire Rubber.
In pocketing the cash and failing to meet ethical standards, Piper Alderman undermines the integrity of the justice system to serve the needs of workers.
Piper Alderman and LCM Litigation Fund: give workers their money back so justice is closer to being served!