Affco locks out some union workers

One hundred and twenty union members at Wairoa's Affco meat plant were locked out today after a breakdown in negotiations with the Meat Workers Union over the core agreement covering its sites.

Affco claims greater union influence in its plants than competitors' is making the company less competitive.

Meatworkers Union organiser Eric Mischefski said only union members with the skills needed to keep the plant operational were being retained to work alongside non-union staff.

On Friday the union was sent a lock-out notice stating 762 workers from its Moerewa, Manawatu, Imlay (Whanganui), Horotiu (Waikato) and Wairoa plants would be locked out from Wednesday. The notice was sent after five days of discussions with the union and a further day with a mediator present. In a MEDIA statement the company said agreement could not be met on several points including the setting of manning and process line speeds, parameters when new technology was introduced, dispute resolution procedures and drug testing procedures other than saliva tests.

The company is offering a 4.3 per cent pay rise over two years if "agreement is reached without dispute and adherence to those conditions which are enjoyed by the majority of Affco's competitors".

Affco operations manager Rowan Ogg said the company was struggling for management control of its own plant, with union demands "archaic and unrealistic".

Meat Workers Union Secretary Dave Eastlake said the company was attempting to "starve" its workers into accepting major changes to its collective employment agreement, giving the company total flexibility.

"Our members will be shocked that this company, now wholly owned by the Talley family, has taken such a cruel and unnecessary step in order to get exactly what it wants in their employment agreement," he said.

"The lockout demands of the company are very similar to those being demanded of the workers at the Port of Auckland and reflect a new determination by some employers to screw down working conditions to the absolute bottom in this country - the low road of employment relations."

Mr Eastlake called on the Talley family to withdraw the lockout notice and return to the bargaining table.

Affco claimed the union is harassing the company through the courts, with nine separate challenges filed by the union with the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) and Employment Court contesting operational management practices.

The ERA this month ordered Talley's-Affco to pay a $30,000 fine to the Meatworkers Union for blocking union representatives from its Awarua meatworks near Invercargill.

In September the ERA ruled that Affco had failed in its good faith obligations in relation to the core collective employment agreement covering its plants.

The same month the Employment Court ruled in favour of a Wairoa employee who was given written warnings because she refused to work overtime so she could nurse her dying mother.

In April last year the Employment Court ruled that Affco had to engage and re-engage union members in accordance with seniority lists that included non-union workers.

Meatworkers Union organiser Eric Mischefski said East Coast meat works were at a lull because farmers were holding back stock after record growing conditions.

"There may be some lay offs, meat companies are having to carry the expense of weekly minimum pay," he said.

Affco workers and the union have pointed the finger at the Talley family for the breakdown in industrial relations at the Wairoa plant.

In 2010 workers distributed flyers encouraging a boycott of Talley products after more than 100 workers were laid off after just three weeks work. Affco installed one of the country's most advanced lamb processing chains in Wairoa last year.