"The result is that we agree with both courts below that Affco locked the workers out unlawfully."
Affco must pay the Meat Workers Union's costs of $35,000 plus reasonable disbursements.
A spokesman for Affco wasn't immediately available. After the Court of Appeal decision last year, the company said it was "naturally disappointed with the court's finding in respect of the lockout issue" although it had been pleased that court found the Employment Court had erred in finding that seasonal workers were "engaged seasonal meat workers on agreements of indefinite duration". That was "consistent with the seasonality in the red meat sector," it said at the time. Allegations of a campaign by Affco to undermine the union and its members were unfounded.
However, for its part the union said Affco and its owner, Talley's Group, "appear to adhere to the US Union Busting Manuals with a singular determination reminiscent of a street fighter." As a result, the union has had more than 60 legal cases against the Talley's since 2010 and had come to rely on the payouts from successful lawsuits to bankroll its ongoing legal actions.
"This has been a long ongoing series of litigation that would have tested the union's resources had it not been for penalties awarded to the union from Talley's over the course of this battle," it said in a statement issued ahead of today's judgment.
The long-running litigation was the first judicial test of amendments to the Employment Relations Act introduced in March 2015, which allowed firms to opt out of multi-employer agreements and removed the duty under good faith bargaining for both sides to reach an agreement.
Affco was the first company to apply for an end to bargaining under the legislative changes and has mounted continuous but as-yet unsuccessful legal challenges to an Employment Court ruling in favour of the Meat Workers Union. Leave to appeal to the Supreme Court was granted on one question - whether Affco had breached a section of the act defining the meaning of "lock-out" when it required seasonal workers to enter into new individual employment agreements before commencing work for the 2015/2016 season.