Meat workers square off with Talley's Affco in Employment Court

UPDATED: Court adjourns on meatworkers' claim

Wairoa meat workers who have refused to sign individual contracts with Talleys Group-controlled meat processor Affco NZ packed the public gallery of the Employment Court today in a hearing on a long-running stoush between the company and the Meat Workers Union.

About 26 workers, wearing green union t-shirts emblazoned with "Jobs that Count" attended the hearing where the union is claiming Affco has bullied workers into signing individual contracts in defiance of their rights to a collective agreement.

Pete Amato, one of the Wairoa workers, said "someone has to stand up" to the punitive conditions the company was trying to introduce. About 250 meat workers initially refused to sign the new individual agreements but that number has since been whittled down to 170 as some have since signed up. "They were desperate after being out of work for five weeks," Amato said.

The meatworkers say the stand-off is causing hardship in the small North Island town, with brother pitted against brother in some families, where some have returned to work and others are refusing to sign.

The union's amended statement of claim covers the Rangiuru, Imlay and Manawatu plants and doesn't actually include Wairoa, though the union lawyer Peter Cranney said the case has implications for all of Affco's eight plants in the North Island and that Affco was trying to undermine collective bargaining and the union.

Union members at the court hearing claim Rangiuru workers who supported the union action weren't allowed time off to attend and show their support.

A second Employment Court hearing is tentatively set down for November, claiming Affco walked away from negotiations on the collective contract that expired in 2013.

Affco's actions amounted to an illegal lockout as the company was trying to force individual contracts that include a pay cut, a changed minimum weekly wage, shift changes without consultation, and fewer breaks, Mr Cranney told the court.

He said the company was arguing the workers couldn't be locked out because they weren't employees and that the work being offered was for a fixed-term rather than continuous employment.

"These people have worked for this company for decades and, although the fixed term stops every season, their employment doesn't," he said. "The fact they can lose their seniority rights if they don't return each season suggests they have a right to continuous employment."

Affco says times have changed
Affco is expected to argue that a previous Richmond case, which argued over whether seasonal workers could expect to be hired year after year on the same terms and conditions, still holds.

But Mr Cranney argued the current Affco case was "distinguishable" because, unlike in the Richmond case, the collective agreement specifically dealt with the issue of continuous employment, including rights of seniority when re-engaged each season and intra-season lay-offs and redundancy.

Affco, which is the country's fourth largest meat processor, says the vast majority of its workers, including union members, are now on individual contracts, reflecting competition created by declining stock numbers and over-capacity.

In June, the union failed to secure an urgent injunction to stop Affco offering individual contracts to members at Rangiuru when they failed to settle a new collective agreement.

The case is continuing with Affco lawyers yet to present the defence.

(BusinessDesk)