Insure your life

A young man working on the Brisbane waterfront as a casual worker died in a car accident recently. When his father was looking through his belongings he found a form from his super fund offering him life insurance. It had been ignored. His wife and two children only got $2,000 in superannuation. It was not a work death. There was no compensation. But if he had filled in that form and sent it off he would have left his family $200,000.

This is the second such case in recent times. Yet little more than 200 supps nationwide have taken up the special life insurance the union negotiated for them some years back.

"It's frustrating," said Deputy National Secretary Jim Tannock. "You get this unnecessary tragedy. We see it again and again. The union negotiated life insurance with the employers and SERF for casual stevedoring members so they could have the same protection as the permanent workforce. Yet despite nationwide seminars and an awareness campaign, there's so little interest."

The recent deaths are good reason to get the message out to members once again.

SERF life insurance is for ALL members. But it is supps who need it most. Permanent workers already have free cover as part of their defined benefit. Yet is is the permanents who usually take out the extra cover. They are the ones who have the biggest mortgages and who need a bit extra cover.

Supplementary members don't get free cover (because they are not in the defined benefit scheme). SERF's life insurance was brought in originally for supps so that they too could feel more secure.

Younger members with families and a mortgage often need the most insurance cover - and the amount paid is higher if you are younger.

However, even many older members stand to gain.

These are the conditions:

• All members under 65 are eligible to apply

• It costs $104.00 for one unit (maximum of 2 units)

• You are covered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week - not just at work.

• If you are a supplementary member you could well find that your employer pays for the second unit if you pay for the first unit, making it even cheaper.

Anne Ellen, Manager, Member Services advises that spouses of members can also insure.

"Imagine what your partner would do if anything happened to you," she said. "How would he or she manage on only one wage or pay for the things you do around the house."

Jim Tannock said he'd encourage all supplementary stevedoring workers and their partners to take out cover.

"The reason the union went to the trouble of extending life insurance to casuals and partners was because a man died and his family were left with nothing," said Tannock. "Now it's happened again. Not once but twice."