Marchers in Moerewa's biggest protest in living memory have been told they are waging a battle on behalf of workers nationwide.
About 400 people - including locked-out workers, children, union reps, MPs, teachers and community members - marched down State Highway 1 from Moerewa Rugby Club to the Affco freezing works at 9am yesterday to show support for union members locked out of the plant for more than six weeks.
The march was good-humoured and accompanied by a cacophony of toots from passing traffic; the only anxious moment for police came when the crowd briefly surged from the footpath across both lanes of the highway. The protest came about after community leaders called a public meeting to discuss ways of supporting locked-out workers.
The speakers at Affco's gates included Sonny Tau, a former union delegate and now chairman of Te Runanga-a-iwi o Ngapuhi, who said he took part on behalf of Ngapuhi, who made up 90 per cent of the workforce at Moerewa.
"Talley's [Affco's owner] are corporate thugs. They've shown that in the fishing industry. They have no consideration for their workers," he said.
Mana Party leader Hone Harawira linked the lock-out and the Education Ministry's orders to shut down the senior unit at Moerewa School, which the school has so far refused.
Moerewa had one of the country's best-performing meat works and one of its best schools, but the Government was determined to break the spirit of both.
"When they talk of selling off state assets, welfare reforms, crushing successful schools, and breaking the unions, it's about breaking the backs of those who would stand together for a better future," Mr Harawira said.
Moerewa School principal Keri Milne-Ihimaera also spoke, saying when families weren't working, children suffered.
"We're getting a bit of a hammering as well. But it's wonderful to see what Moerewa can do in a difficult situation," she said.
Labour's industrial relations spokesman Darien Fenton said Talley's was like no other company.
"It's determined to see your union out of this plant. If the union fails here, the entire meat working industry will be in trouble.
"But this little town is standing together. You're doing it for yourselves, for your children, but you're also doing it for every worker in the country," Mr Fenton said.
After the speeches, the crowd gathered at the doors of the plant, where Mr Tau and Meat Workers' Union site secretary Laurie Nankivell faced off with a pair of security guards.
Mr Nankivell, whose eight children also took part in the march, said it was almost certainly the biggest march the town had seen.
Yesterday's protest coincided with the start of a five-day strike, the longest since the dispute began, by union members still allowed into the plant. The strike was necessary to make the company take notice, Mr Nankivell said.
Mediation is due to resume on April 19.
Affco says it is fighting as to who manages Affco.
"Essentially, it is a struggle over management control," Affco chief executive Hamish Simson said. "Management is seeking to draw a line on union influence in the workplace."