EXCERPTS

ABC Learning founder Eddy Groves is claiming $3.3 million in unpaid wages, holiday pay and long-service leave from the receiver of his collapsed childcare corporation.

The former ABC boss, who was sacked as chief executive last September, is lining up as a creditor alongside 16,000 low-paid childcare workers - many of whom earn the minimum wage.

Mr Groves was being paid a salary of $1.6 million - just shy of $30,000 a week - at the time ABC chairman David Ryan sacked him, just days before the company crashed into receivership. ABC's childcare staff are claiming $31 million in holiday pay and long-service leave, or less than $2000 each.

The Liquor Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union, representing childcare workers, said it was a "bit rich" for Mr Groves to seek a payout.

"He lived a big lifestyle, with the helicopter and the cars, so for him to line up next to low-paid childcare workers is a bit outrageous," the union's assistant national secretary, Sue Lines, said yesterday.

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The Australian understands the $3.3 million Mr Groves is claiming includes a $2.4 million golden handshake, equivalent to 18 months' pay, that had been written into his last employment contract as chief executive.

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- reprinted from The Australian