Affco 'unlawfully' locked out meatworkers

Meatworkers were unlawfully excluded from collective bargaining, Employment Court says.

Affco New Zealand, the Talleys Group-controlled meat processor, unlawfully locked out meatworkers when collective bargaining talks were still underway, the Employment Court has ruled.

A minute from Chief Judge Graeme Colgan, following a telephone directions conference, says a full judgment is likely to be released today.

The note says the full court found for the plaintiffs, "that is, that the defendant locked out the second plaintiffs unlawfully and that it breached section 32 of the Act by acting otherwise than in good faith towards the plaintiffs while collective bargaining was still going on.

"Apart from a declaration to be made by the full court to this effect, other remedies (including the plaintiff's application for compliance orders) will be postponed and the parties will be required to engage in further mediation to be arranged urgently," the minute says.

Affco had an application to the court under section 50K of the Employment Relations Act to declare that bargaining had concluded, because of difficulties in concluding bargaining, which was to start in the Employment on November 23.

But Justice Colgan said in his note the full court "considered it best to advise counsel of the outcome of the case to enable them to take instructions about whether, and if so when, next week's scheduled application will be heard".

The case covered workers at Affco's Rangiuru, Imlay, and Manawatu plants but the company had accepted any finding would cover all eight of its North Island plants, of which only Moerewa in Northland is still to open for the season.

The NZ Meatworkers Union says it has been hindered by the company in trying to represent its members and that workers have been pressured to sign individual contracts in order to start work for the new season. The existing collective contract expired in 2013.

The company became the first under the Government's new employment law to apply for an end to bargaining. Amendments to the Employment Relations Act, introduced in March this year, let firms opt out of multi-employer agreements and removed the duty under good faith bargaining for both sides to reach agreement.