August 22, 2016
AFFCO workers face fight to work
It’s a new season in the freezing works, and that means a new skirmish in the war between Talley’s Group against its workers.
The Nelson Mail has run a crowd-funded advertisement calling on Sir Peter Talley to negotiate fairly with people who work at Talley’s-owned meat processor AFFCO.
Council of Trade Unions secretary Sam Huggard says the company seems determined to remove unions from its eight North Island sheds, so every encounter seems to become a battle, usually ending in court.
That creates uncertainty for the workers, the majority of whom are Maori.
"It’s a fantastic group of workers who are really keen to look out for each other and they just want to get on and do their job and look after their families. They finding that every step along the way they're getting frustrated by a company who, let's be frank, doesn't want them to be able to work together collectively, that collective instinct within unions, is very much a similar collective instinct within hapu as well to look after your crew and that's all the union wants to do, is to stand up for your rights and let's have a decent go on the job", says Mr Huggard.
Sam Huggard says the current battle being waged through the courts is whether workers have a reasonable expectation of employment at the start of each season, or whether the company can start with a clean slate.
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