Lockout enters third month, mediation continues

Press release: Meat Workers Union
Monday 30, April 2012 at 8.15 am
Lockout enters third month, mediation continues

The Meat Worker's Union and Talley's Affco will return to mediation in South Auckland today as the lockout enter it's third month.

Two days of mediated bargaining will start at 9am this morning, Telstra Clear Center at 770 Great South Road, Manukau, and will finish tomorrow on May Day, international worker's day.

Meat Worker's Union general secretary Dave Eastlake says the lockout is hurting families and it is time Talley's dropped the lockout and resolved the dispute.

“900 Talley's Affco workers and their families are struggling into the third month of the Talley's lockout,” he says. “The lockout is as senseless now as it was when it first started and it is time it ended.”
Mr Eastlake says the union's negotiation team, which includes work site representatives, is going into mediation with an open mind today and won't be forgetting the significance of tomorrow, International Worker's Day.
“May Day is a time to remember the sacrifice workers and their unions made when they fought and won the basic work conditions we all take for granted today. While we will be flexible in negotiations, we' won't simply throw away basic protections like job security which is essential for workers families in the highly seasonal and precarious meat industry.”

Last Friday 500 Talley's Affco workers started their third week of continuous solidarity strike action in support of locked out family members and co-workers.

The union is waiting for a decision from the Employment Relations Aurthority on an application for facilitated bargaining and a date from the Employment Court for a full hearing on the union's challenge to legality of the lockout.

Freezing workers were first locked out on February 29 and entered their third month yesterday.

ENDS

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