Talley’s-AFFCO have told their 750 odd unionised meat workers in its plants in Moerewa, Manawatu, Imlay, Horotiu and Wairoa that they will be indefinitely locked out from Wednesday, unless they agree to significant casualisation of their jobs.
We’re not talking highly paid or privileged workers here; meat workers are already seasonal workers, who have to fill the gap with other bits and pieces of work in between seasons. Just visit any small town where the meat works is a major employer and driver of the local economy – and you will know what I’m talking about. It’s grim.
A long term lockout saw 100 ANZCO CMP workers forced to take cuts to pay and conditions last year, and Mr Talley isn’t slow to learn.
But I reckon it’s about more than that.
The climate is now ripe for employers who can’t accept the role of unions in their workplaces to try to smash them. The National Government has promised to further weaken workers’ collective bargaining rights, and any pretense at its support for decent work is rapidly disappearing. The lip service we saw paid to the role of unions in engagement and economic change in the first term of the National Government is now on the back burner.
Union or non-union, this isn’t the Kiwi way.
I believe the union was planning on striking this week anyway, and given that last year the courts ruled that Talley’s had acted illegally in bringing in strike breakers at their Open Country Cheese plant in Waharoa in 2009, I think Talley’s have attempted to pre-empt moves by the union.
The first season I worked at Affco I signed a union agreement, however the second time around I had to sign an individual agreement in order to get the job. I simply would not have got the job had I not signed the individual agreement. That was about 15 months ago.
However, while working at Affco I can recall union information being ripped down from notice boards under instructions of the management. Not the best way to form good relations with many of your workers.
I also recall instances at Affco where workers were brought back to work due to union connections, despite workers’ making the working environment unsafe and lackluster work ethic. I could go in to greater detail. Not the best way to attract non-union workers in to your union.
It is the nature of the job that hours have to be flexible at times. Some times in the season farmers simply won’t give up their stock to be slaughtered. You can’t have 250 sitting around in a cafeteria if there only needs to be one chain running at the plant.
A lot of the workers at Affco are casuals.
Most guys at Affco in the union will be used to a ‘first on, last off’ protocol. The advantage of signing an individual agreement is that when the amount of work starts dying down, the management doesn’t have to retain a worker just because he has been there 3 years, and they can keep the more dedicated and productive worker.
The unions have every right to strike, but those who are not part of the union should not be forced to do anything due to union demands.
There is nothing more frustrating than working hard at a job, and then some people are holding your team back, but they consistently get away with it due to who they know or how long they have worked there.
Talley’s do need to start showing some empathy towards their workers. We know that they locked out workers at Open Country Cheese for six weeks, and only 6 of the 28 workers continued working there following the lockout. Many of these Affco plants are near small towns, and hire a large number of their workforce from there; eg. Ngaruawahia, Wairoa etc. There is little chance of employment elsewhere in their towns for some of these workers.
Communities will have to support the unions if they want to win this battle, because the government is going to back Talley’s, and a huge majority of the public a apathetic to matters which don’t effect themselves.
@Sam Hill : thanks for commenting. The experience of workers like you is really important in what’s ahead for all workers in New Zealand. I will never say that unions get it all right; but I will be fierce in my support for workers like you.
What may or may not be right does not change the circumstances we now live and work in. Unions need to understand the realities of the world we live in. Pragmatism is a must.
Obviously employers have the upper-hand with our current government, and with so many unemployed people desperate for a good paying job (which is certainly what you get at Affco,) I worry that families are going to struggle as they attempt to fight battles that they really have little chance of winning. Our communities are far more apathetic towards unions compared to 20 or 30 years ago. It may be sad but it is the reality. If you have the communities support you have a far bigger bargaining chip.
The biggest thing that the Left have to overcome is the idea that workers are entitled to keep a job their entire working life.
Sector by sector National will attempt to bust union influence. It is the old divide and conquer. I am thinking that the only way to fight against a strategy like this is for workers across New Zealand to unite for fair pay and a safe work environment. If there is competition in business there will be competition in the job market. All we can insure is that workers are treated fairly and that all workers earn a fair wage. I’m sure every Kiwi agrees with that.
Something is very wrong in a business if the management do not have the skills to advance wage negotiations in a positive and productive manner.
Lack of management competency or moral bankruptcy must be the reason behind the bizarre notion that workers might need to subsidise corporate profits.
Oh wait….. its probably both.
Everyone needs a fair suck of the kumara, so long as there is balance everyone should be happy, there is a role for unions so long as their demands are fair and equitable.
Likewise employers need to treat their workers with respect, a them and us attitude this current Government is taking is leading NZ down an unpleasant pathway.
You can only squeeze so much out of the unemployed and the working class, they have to survive as well, otherwise who is going to do the work.
The increase in GST and the cost of housing is really hurting lower socio economic NZ we must get our internal economy moving and get some pride back into this nation.
Selling off State Assets to overseas corporations does not solve NZ’s economic ills, Rogernomics proved this and lead to social disharmony with profits from these State Assets now being exported offshore.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing trying to get a different result.
Lets get people back to work and get some pride back into this country.
Darien I didn’t like the tv interview you were on the other day. You were winging it and it showed. Adern that was a lost opportunity of an interview today, less is more ” flooding a depressed market with high numbers of out of work Kiwi’s is not a solution… ” Lastly these party think tanks happening soon, get those dead wood MPs & Electorate dictatorships to get emailing or we are gone for good.
Cheers
@Alby : I never wing it. What you see on TV is a nano second clip that they choose from an extensive interview. If you are talking about the TVNZ interview, that was a meme created by an academic, which I strongly disagree with.
Darien, you so good!
It’s bleeping disgusting!
!
Also that youth and mother bashing!
!
!
Yes I understand media editing very well, the manipulating so & so’s, perhaps it was more you were caught on the hoof, blink and you missed it. First time I had seen this from you so no big deal.
Hey Mr Potato head you have serious issues going on.
No, I’m just p***d at everything that is going on!
Not a potato head, Imma potato, an Irish potato!
!!!
“Hey Mr Potato head you have serious issues going on.”
Says the tory, trolling Labour mps and supporters on their party website
Actually A 1 i am further left than most of the mob, so I shall choose to ignore your ‘Tory’ insults. Don’t forget the welcome mat is always out with the Greens!
Thanks al1ens
!
It seems in Sam Hill the detailed trolling and misinformation campaign has began, straight at those who are supposed to be defending worker’s rights; or has the ‘Labour’ in Labour Party forgotten it’s core constituency…
When Sam insists he was ‘forced’ to sign the IEA before he could work, at whichever plant he worked at, he should inform said readers that he received a 3% pay rise over other workers and a $1000 “attendence bonus” for signing away the continued casualisation of his job. This “forcing” was not a neccessity as one ALWAYS had the option to sign the collective agreement.
Workers are NEVER bought back due to union connections, or otherwise, they are bought back as per their position on the seniority list – the only exception is when skilled labour (ala, butchers, slaughtermen, boners, etc.) are required to fulfill the required tally as per the cattle load. Secondly, since you choose to suggest that bringing back said workers undermined plant safety and that such safety is the responsibility of the departmental foreman, why did you (or they) refuse to abide by your contractual agreements?
Most workers at plants are NOT CASUAL labour, but SEASONAL labour. When stock flows decrease and management determines less labour is required, the union merely decreases the required labour via the seniority list. Most people juggle second and off-jobs in the down seasons… That is the nature of the beast. The idea the 250 workers “sit around in the cafeteria” has no connection to the reality of working in a freezing works. That does not happen when the chain is running and stock is moving through the plant, as per his own admission.
It must also be noted, that the union was NEVER going to strike prior to the lock-out call by Talleys. The union did not desire to put its members in financial difficulty in any which way. Worker’s on strike DO NOT receive compensation via WINZ.
It seems that Sam is suggesting that workers who originate from ‘small towns’, ala Ngaruawahia, are incapable of noticing the direct attack on their own welfare, despite AFFCO Horotiu employing the large majority of its populace, its current workforce has rejected the position of Talleys 204 to 4 at its latest general meeting…
To suggest that unions ‘do not understand the world we live in’ simply beggars belief, in my experience they have been nothing but pragmatic. And as an aside, workers ARE entitled to a job via Article 23 of the UN Human Rights Charter, heres part 1: “Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.”
Or are we a now a failed state?
@Matt : please don’t assume all posters here are Labour. I know exactly what’s going on here with Talleys et al; and it smells of the past. It’s really important good people like you post on this blog, because it is often occupied by right wing trolls. From time to time, there are those who live in a different world to you and me, and it’s worth engaging with them. Kia kaha
“It’s really important good people like you post on this blog, because it is often occupied by right wing trolls”
“Actually A 1 i am further left than most of the mob”
And now tories in socialist drag
Wonders if I will see A 1 alongside myself & busload of unionist I am helping arrange to be on POA picket March 10th.
Always found it off putting the unfriendly element of the Party.
union members want to work in an environmet that is fair and that they feel secure in, they cannot trust talleys that already have a bad rep, i think that its quite a risk to not be in a union while working under them… we should support these people because we would all want people to fight for us if we were in the same boat- getting bullied into working for next to nothing and not even knowing if you will be able to pay your bills, shame on talleys and kia kaha to all affco union people
Matt, I was told that Horotiu workers were planning on striking days before the lockout was announced. I don’t know who you are, but I was told by workers who are working there that it was going to happen. So either my mates have psychic abilities, or they knew what was coming.
And let me make this clear to you you, in 2011 I wasn’t given the option of signing a union contract. In 2010 when I first worked at Affco, we met with someone who explained the IEA and union contracts to us and told us we were under no pressure to sign with either, but simply to be aware of the politics. We then had a meeting with the union guy who told us it was better to sign with the union. I believe all new workers were signed to the union initially, and I didn’t sign an IEA in 2010.
When I returned in 2011 (yes you’re right, as a SEASONAL worker, my bad. But still ‘casual’ in a sense due to the nature of the supply chain) I was not given the option of signing with the union, nor did I have any meetings. I had one meeting with the site manager where I signed the IEA. This was around the time that the meatworks in Te Aroha burnt down, and a lot of their staff came over to Horotiu. I was not even told about the extra $1000 for high attendance. I am not aware that I received 3% more than union workers.
‘Most people juggle second jobs’ – yeah right. You’re telling me people are keeping themselves available for night shift and then going to work in the mornings etc? I don’t know how much casual work like that is avaialable around Ngaruawahia and Hamilton at the moment. Isn’t that what all the strikes around NZ have been about – casualisation of employment?
I don’t think the union has anyway of knowing what actually happened in all individual circumstances from 2011 onwards. That is my story above.
Interesting anecdotes from Sam and Matt – think it was a bit trigger happy to start shouting “SCAB!” though.
It is interesting anecdotes like these that provide thick-skulled tories with some insight into how difficult life is for casualised and seasonal workers. I don’t think that they are all completely without compassion, so keep sharing your experiences…
Just want to confirm that the union were not going to strike days before the lockout. The Union (us, the people) have to past the motion to strike at a shed meeting of each branch, which was done after the lock out started, not before.
SAM HILL
When you returned in 2011, its most likely that the company affco/talleys had moved the union office off plant, as they claim our union members are intimidating the new workers and are not to approach them or will be fined!(well thats the case at my plant)
“as they claim our union members are intimidating the new workers and are not to approach them or will be fined!(well thats the case at my plant)”
Much like these wonderful people from MUNZ :
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ports-of-Auckland-scabs/197973513650715. If this boy is gay, why does it matter? Hate speech, racism, and misogyny. All admirable traits it seems for MUNZ.
“they claim our union members are intimidating the new workers and are not to approach them or will be fined”
Love me instead, or I’ll hit you with a stick.
Corporate bullying, fines they say.
All admirable traits it seems for Dave’s mates.