FARMYARD CHICKEN

Recently we were contacted by a young member of ours who made inquires into weekend penalties.  She informed us that she was only being paid $16 per hour for weekend work. We wrote to the owners and informed them of their obligations under the award and sought back payment for our member concerned. We met with the owners and were informed that they could not afford to pay the penalties for weekends and if they had to they would have to sack 2 of their employees. We told the owners in certain terms that they should get legal advice as they cannot sack a worker because that worker is claiming their legal entitlement. The owners sought legal advice and were told that they were in breach of the Workplace Relations Act and had to back pay all employees concerned.  Our member was entitled to $9,500 in back pay including superannuation.

GREENHAMS

Since our last report our members at Greenhams have continued to focus on the changes to the workplace laws. They know that their employer will not be able to continue to refuse to meet with our union shop committee as of July 2009. The Fair Work Bill will be in place then and this company will be forced if need be to the bargaining table as the new law enables worker committees to force employers to negotiate in good faith.

Workers compensation and the box bonus cases
Injured workers at Greenhams are aware that we have recently had a victory over the company’s insurers which relates to the interpretation of a weekly earnings whilst on workers compensation. The insurers have accepted our position on the inclusion of the box bonus payments in certain circumstances. The company and its insurers have agreed to pay 15 injured workers back pay tens of thousands and the UNIONS legal fees which were more than $10,000 to run the case. The company has not however agreed to write a blank cheque for all injured workers who have been incapacitated.
We generally have won the first argument, we now need to go further to establish that all injured workers whether they are employed for 5 weeks or 5 years have the same rights when it comes to ordinary weekly earnings under the Workers Compensation Act.  The company has been informed that there is another group of workers claims coming based on our next argument.
 Members at this site should also be aware of the terrific job our delegates are doing on behalf of the membership, in particular our Shop Steward Jimmy Donovan. Jim’s recent achievements have not gone unnoticed by our State Executive.

RETAIL SUPERMARKETS

It has recently come to our attention that certain store managers are threatening termination of employment if meat department employees do not agree with rosters being proposed by the company.  Your union the AMIEU has had numerous discussions over the years with middle and senior management about the interpretation of our AGREEMENTS. The rostering principle sections in our view are clear, that is the company CANNOT force an employee to agree to a future roster, the company must take into account an employees personal circumstances and consult the employee concerned if proposing a new roster.  The company cannot change a roster to avoid paying weekend penalties nor can the company change a roster with out giving the employee appropriate notice.   We have been informed that managers are standing over staff and have also threatened outsourcing of work to other companies if employees do not agree with changes to working hours.
The AMIEU has contacted regional management about our concerns. The companies are now investigating our claims.  We have met with senior management about this issue.

Tools of Trade
The other issue of concern is Woolworths not providing tools of trade to butchers when existing tools become unserviceable.
For example a butcher requested a certain brand of knife from the company recently and should have been provided with their request, they SHOULD NOT have been given the run around by the company. It is an Occupational Health and Safety issue. It has been suggested by senior members of our union that in the future if the company cannot provide members requests we should claim tool allowance again and purchase our own tools. This would be a good decision as your union now supplies all tools of trade at cost price to members.
Once we have met with management on these issues we will inform members of the outcome.

SELBORNE BIOLOGICAL SERVICES

This site generally processes blood products for pharmaceutical purposes and resides at Longford. Recently we were contacted by concerned members that had been informed their jobs were being made redundant due to an export order falling through. Two of our members who worked in the raw material department were offered their base entitlements of annual leave accruals and 4 weeks notice with a couple of weeks redundancy.  We disputed the offer and secured another 7 weeks pay for our members concerned. This company however did not offer the department manager a redundancy; they offered him a kangaroo court termination based on some concocted conspiracy theory of exposing secret documents to a competitor.
The department manager was also a member of ours, at the writing of this newsletter the workplace ombudsman and our federal union were investigating alleged breaches of the Workplace Relations Act and we are pursuing underpayments of long service leave entitlements, redundancy and sick leave accruals. This employer generally states itself as one of those places that is award free and in our view exploits this with its employees. Other employees at this workplace should take note that they could be next and it’s in there best interests to join the union.

LONGFORD MEAT CO

JBS Swift has now owned the Tasmanian operations for 10 months.  It has been business as usual apart from the company now running its own budget.

EBA Update

We are pleased to announce the finalization of negotiations after 8 months of discussions with the company for a new union collective agreement.  Your union the AMIEU has agreed in principle on the proviso that if a majority of members vote in favour of the deal we will have reached agreement.  The agreement will then have to pass the No Disadvantage Test determined by the Workplace Authority. Almost two thirds of the work force voted in favour of the agreement on 14th May 2009. The new proposed deal covers every employee on site apart from security personnel.

Some of the key benefits to the deal are:

• The return of the 38 hour week
• The return of 17.5% leave loading
• The return of Saturday overtime penalties (time and ½ for the first 2 hours and then double time after for butcher shop and processing staff)
• Seniority clause
• Preference for permanent workers as opposed to casualization
• 20% wage increase over 5 years
• The ability to earn 5 days pay in 4 days under agreed circumstances
• Average weekly earnings on all paid leave for piece workers (including sick leave)
• 12.5% increase in the first year in hourly rates for all paid leave for follow on labour.
• All existing tallies secured for piece workers

This has been a long drawn out process and your union sees having a long term deal in this global financial crisis as a clear benefit for all parties concerned.  Our only problem we may face is the company’s ability to access livestock for processing.  This of course has always been our main concern NOW AND INTO THE FUTURE.  The Tasmanian branch thanks our delegates on site and in particular would like to congratulate our state president WHIPPY SMITH based on the outcomes of these EBA negotiations. 

TAS MEAT WHOLESALERS

There have been quite a few staffing changes at Tas Meats recently, with Doug King coming back to take a more active role in running the business.
Recently there were rumours that the business would be closed down, this has not happened, and is probably a tactic to scare employees into doing what the boss wants.
Employees at Tas. Meats who want to see improvements to their rate of pay and work conditions constantly approach the union to “do something about it”.  The long-term goal is to have a new agreement in place at Tas. Meats, but the union can only do that with the support of its members.  The best way to get a better deal at work is to join your union and become an active member