At both plants the workers, who are members of the Service and Food Workers Union, formed round-the-clock picket lines and won significant solidarity and financial support from other unionists and local communities. At the Bluff plant an overwhelming majority of the workforce stayed out for the duration of the strike. About half the workers on the day shift and three-quarters of those on the night shift at the Timaru factory had crossed the picket line by the beginning of August.

The striking workers at the Timaru plant voted August 15 to accept a new proposal from the company, and returned to work the next day. Packers and trimmers won a 12 percent increase and filleters 10 percent over two years. They will get 8 percent and 6 percent respectively in the first year, and the balance in the second. Workers at the Bluff plant stayed out for another week in an attempt to gain a single increase, rather than a split increase over two years.

Gary Butterfield, a union delegate at the Timaru plant, told the Militant that the gains brought the Sanford workers up to around the middle-of-the-range wage level for the industry, comparable to that of workers at the Sealord plant in Dunedin--one of the biggest fish factories in the lower half of the South Island. "It was a big gain for us," he said. "The company now knows that when the contract expires next time and negotiations begin, we won't be there to muck around."

Although workers did not gain a multi-site contract, the contracts at both plants are now similar. The Timaru workers made gains in conditions and allowances that brought them up to the same level as the Bluff workers. This will put the Sanford workers in a better position to fight for a multi-site contract in the future.

Stuart Needham is a member of the Meat Workers Union in Christchurch.
 
 
Related article:
Socialist candidate joins picket line in New Zealand  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home