This means most of the 164 locked-out union workers will return to working day shifts, rather than the night shifts AFFCO argued the workers should return on. AFFCO has until February 23 to do this, or it may face a compliance order.
The ruling is “very encouraging,” the union's national organising director Darien Fenton said because it provides seasonal workers with security by entrenching the importance of seniority in allocating shifts.
“The meat industry is our number two export industry, and over the years we’ve built up this whole system which has worked not only for workers but for employers,” Fenton said.
“Employers get skilled workers coming back, and I’ve been amazed at the length of service of some of the workers – we’re talking 30 years.
“We want to make it an attractive industry, we want to keep quality people coming back and maintain our reputation, and the basis of that has to be some form of security,” she said.
The New Zealand meat industry employs about 25,000 people, with more than 60 processing sites around the country.
Sheep and beef exports were worth $7.3 billion in the year to June 2015, up $600 million from a year earlier. It is NZ’s largest manufacturing industry.
Fenton said the issue went beyond just the Wairoa workers, with growing global trends towards casualisation a worry for the union.
Though other players in the industry have not been a problem in terms of respecting seniority, those companies had been concerned by Talley’s actions, she said.
“This approach from the number four company in the meat industry is worrying to them because it undercuts them.
“It gives them a market advantage because they lower wages and they have advantages over seniority provisions.
“I don’t think the meat industry wants to go there – business overall is pretty dismayed because it’s bringing the industry into disrepute,” Fenton said.
