Overseas labour concerns union

CMP Rangitikei says any recruitment of overseas staff for its meat processing plant near Marton would not have any impact on staff currently locked out of the works.

Contract negotiations between the ANZCO-owned plant and the NZ Meat Workers Union have made little headway since the collective employment agreement expired back in April.

Then on October 19 the company locked out about 100 unionised workers and that lockout shows no sign of being resolved.

Yesterday the NZ Council of Trade Unions said it was concerned about reports that ANZCO was recruiting new workers in Samoa for the Marton plant.

CTU secretary Peter Conway said the union did not have an issue with the normal operation of the Samoan workers quota but there were legal issues about the use of replacement labour during an industrial dispute.

But Darryl Mackenzie, CMP Rangitikei plant manager, said the recruitment in Samoa was an annual process of employing new staff to cover the peak season and to fill positions due to resignation.

"The employment programme that we are currently undertaking is completely independent of the current lockout situation," Mr Mackenzie said.

"None of the new employees will take the jobs of anyone that is currently a union member. Everyone who is locked out can come back into their job as soon as the lockout ends," he said.

"We are following our usual employment plan that we do every year where we employ locally, as well as employing through the Western Samoa employment scheme like most meat plants in New Zealand."

He said the CMP Rangitikei currently had a team in Western Samoa interviewing potential employees.

"There is a process to go through which can take several weeks before anyone employed can actually start," he said.

Mr Mackenzie they needed to get the process under way now so that the company can have the people in the country "when we need them".

He said despite the lockout nearing its eighth week the plant was operating as normal.

"With livestock numbers increasing now as we head into the busy season and with more employees resigning from the union and returning to work under individual agreements we began the night shift last week," he said.

Mr Mackenzie said the plant was a stand-alone company within the ANZCO Group and had to be profitable on its own.

"Because of that the situation at CMP Rangitikei does not impact on or have any relevance to any of the other businesses within the group," he said.

ANZCO locked out 111 workers at the plant when they refused to accept pay cuts of up to 20 per cent and reductions in conditions.