Vol. 73/No. 41 October 26, 2009
Dairy Workers Union members at the factory had begun a strike three days earlier, set to last eight days. Workers on the picket line said that in retaliation, the companyowned by Talleys, a major New Zealand food companysaid it would lock them out for six weeks once the strike ended.
Strikers told the Militant they oppose company plans to restructure that include laying off workers for months during each off-peak season, thereby ending their current year-round employment, and changing their rostered hours and shifts. We want more job security, said Richard Van Nistelrooy, emphasizing a central demand of the strike.
Around half of the 65 process workers are striking. Still working are permanent employees who did not join the union, temporary employees, and permanent workers the company brought in from other plants.
On the picket line workers told of the companys aggressive stance. One manager is facing allegations of physically assaulting a worker. With five hours to go in their last shift before the strike, Tracey Van Nistelrooy said she and other union members were ordered to empty out their lockers and leave. They dont want a union in at all, she said. But we wont be bullied or intimidated by them.
Workers said Talleys has a long record as an antiunion employer. A woman at its fish plant won a sexual discrimination case against the firm in 2007 when boss Andrew Talley wouldnt let her become a fish filleter. Talley said fish filleting wasnt a job for a woman, and that she should be a pole-dancer instead! said Viv Hannah.
Open Country Cheese has since sacked a temporary worker who had joined the picket outside of his work hours, and Dave Te Iringi, one of the two union delegates, for an alleged incident on the picket.
Workers hired as temporaries are employed by a separate agency set up by the company, and are not in the union. They are paid lower wages and laid off when work dries up. As part of the collective union contract they are fighting for, picketers said they want equal wages and permanent status for these workers within a definite period of their starting work.
On September 25 the Employment Court ruled the company lockout illegal. In response, the company suspended all the union members on full pay, claiming it had to investigate sabotage before allowing them back to work.
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UK: hundreds mobilize against right-wing thugs
UK sanitation workers strike against wage cuts
How miners won fight against WWII no-strike laws
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