PMA Solutions, based in Baulkham Hills, NSW, E-Bisprint, based in Tuggerah, NSW, and Adelaide Business Forms are donating a total of $15,000 to the employees of the Wodonga-based firm.
Natasha Ankus, national business services manager at 100-staff PMA, told ProPrint that the trio had been following the Paragon saga and felt compelled to help.
“We feel obliged to help people because we’re in the same industry, and particularly with Easter coming up,” she said.
PMA doesn’t have a business relationship with Paragon, said Ankus, “we just feel for the workers who have been there for decades and feel bad that they have potentially lost their entitlements”.
Paragon workers are owed an estimated $10m in entitlements.
“I’m just lucky I work for a generous employer,” said Ankus of PMA Solutions managing director Phil Okill.
Ankus added: “We’re talking to possible administrators of the relief fund about the best way to distribute the money.”
The majority of Paragon Printing’s staff returned to work yesterday after administrators and Moore Business Systems (a major customer and former sister company) reached an agreement to keep the printer afloat, though as many as 21 Paragon workers remain on stand-down.
Arkus said they had not approached Moore Business Systems, but called for any print managers to donate money if they could.
Anyone interested in making a contribution to the fund can contact Ankus on (02) 9629 0800.
Up to 110 Paragon employees will resume work over the course of this week, with 18 of these employees to be used in Moore’s warehousing operations. A three-week roster has been drawn up for employees while administrator Hall Chadwick continues its search for a buyer.
However, the initial 48-hour stand-down, which began last Wednesday 17 March, had been extended four times with Hall Chadwick and Moore unable to reach an agreement.
Paragon Printing entered administration earlier this month, with administrators revealing that roughly $10m is owed to creditors further to the $10m owed to employees.
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