3 May 2012

News Release

Meat Workers Union Shows Bad Faith Around Mediation

Affco is concerned that the Meat Workers Union has again showed bad faith around mediation breaking confidentiality on the talks and misleading its members over the dispute.

The Union this week showed its disrespect for the mediation by breaching its undertaking to the Labour Department’s Mediator that details of discussions be kept confidential.

The Employment Relations Authority yesterday confirmed that the parties will now enter the facilitation process. The facilitation process takes place in private. During facilitation, bargaining continues and employers and employees are not prevented from using strikes and lockouts.

Affco is of the view that it is too early for facilitation, but it also did not oppose the Union’s application for it.

Rowan Ogg said Affco had laid the foundation for constructive mediation this week by presenting an offer over the weekend to restart all striking workers if the Union ended its strike action and engage in meaningful mediation during the return to work. The Union rejected that offer.

“Part of the requirement was that the Union lift their strike action, which they have not done. Notwithstanding this Affco withdrew the lockout on 300 employees enabling them to return to work yesterday morning.”

Mr Ogg said the company has been working to ensure mediation is constructive and is demonstrating good faith in making its offers of return to work to the Union.

“We are not seeing that from the other side. The Union is forcing hardship on its members with the ongoing strikes. After making constructive offers to the Union, it’s now up to Union leadership to demonstrate a real desire to make progress,” said Mr Ogg.

Claims & Facts:

The Meat Workers Union has made a number of incorrect and misleading claims in its statement yesterday regarding the dispute. These are set out below, along with the facts:

Union claim:
“The news [re facilitation] has come at good time for struggling families who say they were given false hope that the company's plan to partially lift the lockout would end the dispute.”

Fact:
The company made the offer to progressively unlock employees in an attempt to meet the objectives of bothparties, for Affco that is to ensure meaningful bargaining occurs on claims to enhance the chance of a resolution, and for the Union, their wish for all their members to be unlocked over a known timeframe.


Union Claim:
“First Affco locked out 1,000 workers and their families after only 10 hours of face to face negotiations, then they told us they only came to mediation becausethey were legally required to, then they cancelled a mediation session and now they've tabled a completely new document.”

Fact:
Negotiations commenced mid November, the lockout occurred at the end of February, the company had conceded about half of its claims; the Union had conceded none of theirs.

The mediation was postponed, as a result of the union placing court action on conflicting dates.

The document is not new, but combines the existing agreement, the company’s claims and the site documents, which the Union has had for 18 months.

Union Claim:
Mr Eastlake says the partial lifting of the lockout for 300 Affco workers today “is not a gesture of good will, but a gesture of production needs.”

Fact:
The offer to unlock covered all workers, not 300 as asserted by Mr Eastlake. Had the union abided by the offer, the total workforce would have been back in work within three weeks.

Union Claim:
“Workers were devastated when Affco wouldn't guarantee it would lift the lockout for everyone at yesterday's mediation. The company could actually extend the suffering for those families that are still locked out if the company get the workers back it sorely needs to meet the cull cow season, which is now in full swing."

Fact:
Over the weekend Affco offered to unlock all of the employees over a known time frame, the Union rejected this offer.

ENDS

© Scoop Media