Bindery staff left without entitlements

Staff at Naresh Gulati’s collapsed trade finishing house The Bindery have been left owed thousands of dollars in entitlements, as promised redundancy payments have failed to materialise, and with the company now in liquidation.

On the day he closed the doors to one of Melbourne’s big two trade binding houses, which he had bought five years ago, Gulati gave an emotional address to staff, telling them he would be paying out their wages – five weeks in some cases – and their entitlements.

However, the situation has moved quickly at The Bindery; Gulati shut the doors on Friday 25 October, engineers from UK used finishing equipment dealer BMS were in the factory over that weekend, dismantling equipment to take overseas, and Gulati has now placed the business in voluntary liquidation.

When the promised payment schedule was due to take place, nothing was forthcoming; instead staff have received a letter from the liquidators telling them to apply to FEG – the government scheme to recompense former employees of closed businesses – for their entitlements.

The Bindery had about 40 employees working over two shifts. Some of them have been taken on by Marvel Bookbinding, which now operates the only trade PUR perfect binder in Melbourne, and says it has the only trade case binding line in the country.

The closure of The Bindery came just days after Gulati sold some of the assets of his print business Rooster IMC to Southern Colour, which is also taking over the lease for the Mount Waverley building. The closure of Rooster and The Bindery marked the end of Gulati's five year sojourn into print.