Press release: Meat Workers Union

Tuesday 20 March at 9:30am

Talley's Tactics Developed In South Island, Conference To Be Told.

Talley's AFFCO did everything they could to get rid of workers collective voice at their Invercargil plant, a national meat workers union conference will be told today.

Representatives from New Zealand's major processing plants across the country will attend a national conference at 11am today at the Kingsgate Hotel, 110 Fitzherbert Avenue, West End, Palmerston North.

Daryl Carran, Meat Workers Union organiser for Talley's AFFCO owned South Pacific Meats in Invercargill, says the north island dispute has given him deja-vu.

“Talley's illegally blocked workers from accessing their union at work and used that time to tell workers there wasn't a collective agreement and that they wouldn't have a job if they didn't sign an individual contract,” he says. “By the time workers won a court case around access to their union, the damage had already been done, the workplace was de-unionised and workers had no collective voice.”

Mr Carran says he isn't surprised the company wants to remove job security from the North Island collective agreement.

“Talley's ignored workers job security provisions at AFFCO Invercargill, but lost in court when we challenged them. The only way they can remove job security, which is essential for workers and their families in a seasonal industry, is by ripping it out of the collective agreement or by locking people out and starving them onto individual contracts.”

The conference will discuss how meat workers can support the 1,000 locked out Talleys AFFCO workers and the impact of the dispute on the industry.

Representives include workers from Silverfern Farms, AFFCO, Alliance, ANZCO and Progressive Meats.

ENDS

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