Union says meat workers face alleged lockout threats from JBS Bordertown over pay dispute

A global food firm is under fire for allegedly “threatening to send home” its workers without pay at an SA meatworks over a “dud pay deal”.

The meat workers union has slammed a global food company for allegedly “threatening to send home” its workers without pay at a South Australian facility after an ongoing pay dispute.

The AMIEU says more than 200 workers at south-east meatworks JBS Bordertown are facing a three-week lockout if they don’t accept a “dud pay deal”.

It comes after workers voted and agreed to not work overtime and to engage in “work bans”.

AMIEU secretary Sharra Anderson said the workers weren’t striking.

“They’re just refusing to work the extra time that the company was already trying to squeeze out of them, so they rethink this dud deal, the company’s now threatened to lock them out without pay for 3 weeks,” she said.

She said the company was pressuring the meat workers to work two hours extra a week without overtime, which would mean the average worker will see their pay decrease by between $13-$21 a week.

AMIEU South Australia & Western Australia Branch's Sharra Anderson. Picture: AAP (File)

“The workers do an incredibly physical job and are already on site from 6am-5pm every day, and now the company is expecting an extra half an hour of work, and they don’t want to pay them properly for it,” she said.

“There’s a lot of families, who will have both Mum & Dad with no pay for 3 weeks, just before Christmas. If the company is actually this heartless, it will have a devastating effect on Bordertown and the surrounding community.”

The union is going to be on site, meeting with workers on Friday to discuss their options.

“This is a completely disproportionate response from the company, they’ve refused to meet with the union. Our industrial laws are broken if a big company can get away with something like this,” Ms Anderson said.

JBS Bordertown has been contacted for comment.