The dispute around the right to organise a union collective at Open Country Cheese appears to be turning nasty quickly.
- Union members escorted from the site 5 hours before the strike was due to start.
- Company has now re-registered as a different company in order to be able to use employees from that company as strike-breakers.
- On Tuesday a union member was seriously assaulted by a manager. The Police are working on that issue.
- The stike started at 6pm yesterday. The 6 week lockout starts on 24 Sept.
- There is a picket running from 5.30am to 6pm each day at Waharoa.
- The Dairy Workers Union will be collecting food and money.
- The dispute has all the Talley hallmarks. They have the record of being the only company that was so bad that their contract was found to be “harsh and oppressive” under the ECA.
Thanks National Ltd – I’m lovin’ it.
Silly question – whats the ECA please?
How much of their milk supply is from their own farmer suppliers and how much is trucked from Fonterra.
For our information what are the brands OCC uses to sell its products under
This from Tuesday is relevant to ghost’s question:
continues at http://www.fedfarm.org.nz/n1685.html
I wonder why Open Country Cheese has turned bad towards its workers just because they want a Union collective? I hope the workers keep up their fight and win.
@bikerkiwi Employment Contracts Act (the oppressive 1990’s industrial relations legislation)
As an aside, one of my first demands would be for noseplugs for working there…
All joking aside, I’ve never worked for a company that allows unions, I see that one of the signs says non-union employees got 4%, opposed to 1% for unions. Assuming this means the non-unions may have less allowances and the like?
Do you have any idea of how many are union and how many not? One estimate I see says there’s 100 staff there, which would (if correct) put a bit of a different slant on things…
bikerkiwi: The ECA = the Employment Contracts Act which included a number of anti-union themes. For example:
- it framed the relationship between employer and employee as a contract between individuals
- it effectively de-recognised trade unions as such
- it removed the rights of unions to enter workplaces to liaise with members or for recruitment purposes
As you can imagine, the ECA was very damaging to unions. For example a significant effect was the halving of union density between 1991 and 1999. Fortunately, one of Labour’s first legislative actions was to scrap the ECA and introduce the Employment Relations Act. Unfortunately, National is less upfront and seems to take the stance that by slowly chipping away at key foundations of the ERA no-one will notice/care that union rights are being attacked. Obviously employers such as OCC have though and are using the change in the employment relations environment to their advantage.
unions in OZ are really strong, or at least were .. not sure now, but when their companies bought our companies, they tested anti union programs on us 1st to see how they went.
A big Oz company in my area just started a sort of anti union policy and I’m worried it will blow up big time soon .. The Labour Presidents union will lead it .. mm
Time to call for a boycott of all Talleys products. Someone needs to organise one, now.
Talleys are vulnerable, it’s time to take advantage of that.
@ mallard – thanks.
2. If Open Country Cheese try re-registering so they can hire scabs, take it to the Companies Office, and demand they deregister the new OCC company. Companies are not allowed to be created for the purpose of breaking the law (in this case, the ERA).
And yes, a list of OCC products or brands would be useful. Start a boycott.
The union doesn’t have a right to a collective contract. They have a right to ask for one, and the employer has a right to decline. This is really just the Progressive Enterprises dispute all over again, and that one happened during Labour’s term of office. These disputes didn’t happen during the first five years or so of the ERA, they just happened because Labour kept passing amendments to the ERA to give unions a stronger hand.
So much for the “free market”, eh Swampy, when labour can’t organise by business can.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=133737468653
Facebook group – please join to show your support for the dairy workers.
Hi Nicola, do you happen to know the union/non-union worker split?
@Nathan Mills – Sorry I don’t. I’m not assosciated with nzdwu in any way, simply a concerned member of the public who is disgusted at the behaviour of the company, hence the group.
Nathan:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/stories/2009/09/16/1245c7ea5294
“The union says 38 workers or a little over half of the workforce, are taking strike action.”
Unfortunately most of OCC products are for export so a boycott wouldnt achieve anything