Redstar provides interstate road express freight services across Australia, with a network of depots located across the country. PwC Australia has been appointed liquidators, and workers were made redundant “effective immediately.” Quiam Si Lai and Jang Jang Lay are East Timorese refugees who arrived in Australia in the early 1990s. The pair have both worked packing shoes in the Fastline Logistics warehouse for more than 15 years. "I feel really pissed off, I feel sick in my stomach," Mr Lai said. "I couldn't sleep last night after they told me I no longer have my job. I don't know what I'll do. I just feel sad. We didn't get any warning. This was their Christmas present to us," he said.

Ms Lay, 49, purchased a unit in Deer Park six months ago. "I haven't been able to stop crying," Ms Lay said. "I don't know how I am going to pay my mortgage or support my daughter." Mr Lai said he arrived at work early on Thursday morning, as he did every other day. But when one of his managers called him and his co-workers into the staff kitchen for an urgent meeting just after 2pm, his stomach started twisting in knots. "I knew something was wrong and they just said to us 'You no longer have a job here, you have to pack your things and go'," he said.

Quiam-Si Lai says he doesn't know how he will make ends meet after losing hos job of more than 15 years. Credit:Chris Hopkins The 43-year-old said he stood in the kitchen paralysed with shock while distraught colleagues around him burst into tears. "There were people crying... they have families to look after," he said. "Then the supervising manager told us if we don't leave they will call the police." CFMEU Textile Clothing Footwear national secretary Jenny Kruschel said staff were also informed they would not be paid for their work this week. Ms Kruschel said the collapse of Fastline Logistics, which distributes products for retail brands and stores, would have a devastating impact on many workers.

Employees of Fastline Logistics in Derrimut are told the company is going into liquidation. Credit:AAP/CFMEU "Many of these 120 workers have given years of loyal service to this company, yet they were given less than an hour's notice that they no longer have a job, won't be paid for their work this week and are unlikely to receive the entitlements legally owed to them," she said. On Friday morning union officials met workers who say they are owed annual and long service leave, redundancy, notice periods, wages and superannuation. "For many workers, including loyal long-serving staff, this collapse is a devastating financial blow right on the eve of Christmas, which will leave them in serious financial distress over the holiday period," Ms Kruschel said. "Given many of the workers are migrants with English as a second language, finding alternate employment will be that much more challenging."

The union is investigating the recent stripping of major assets from Fastline to another corporate entity, Global Fashion Service, which appears to be a deliberate attempt to leave only a shell behind that does not have the resources to pay worker wages and entitlements, Ms Kruschel said. The union took action against Fastline earlier this year following revelations superannuation was not being paid, recovering more than $600,000 for workers. "Thankfully, our efforts to recover this money before the company collapsed provides one piece of positive news for workers, but it does highlight the fact that management appear to have been dipping into employee entitlements to keep the business afloat," Ms Kruschel said. "Now, with the company being liquidated and major assets already stripped out, workers appear unlikely to see most of the unpaid wages, leave, and other entitlement owed to them." Mr Lai said he was not sure how the couple were going to make ends meet.

"My brother has offered to help us but I don't want to be a problem for anyone else," he said. "I'm not sure what we will do next year, but we won't give up until we find work." Administrators of the company have been contacted for a response. with AAP