McCain’s offers to back pay workers after ‘unlawful’ lockout at Smithton factory

Frozen food giant McCain is offering to back pay workers locked out of its Smithton factory over six days in late July and early August. LATEST FROM THE SAGA >>

• McCain’s workers walk off the job in campaign for better conditions
• Why Victoria’s potato farmers are spitting chips

FROZEN food giant McCain is offering to back pay workers locked out of its Smithton factory over six days in late July and early August.

The Fair Work Commission has ruled the lockout unlawful.

Now McCain says it will offer back pay to employees as is required under that ruling.

But the company said it was considering its legal options.

“Given that two of the four commissioners who ruled in this case decided in our favour we are considering our options,” Mccain said in a statement.

Unions say some workers are owed a fortnight’s pay after the threat of industrial action prompted McCain to stop production at the potato chip factory.

Workers want to be paid the same as their mainland counterparts for the same job.

McCain said its offer to employees at its Tasmanian plant was fair.

“It is well above the rate of inflation, well above the modern award and, in fact, we have actually tripled our original offer since the beginning of these negotiations,” the company said.

“The union likes to talk about inflation.

“Well, inflation goes both ways. Our cost of product has increased by 12 per cent in the past year.”

Days long lockout at McCain’s factory deemed ‘unlawful’

THE Fair Work Commission has deemed McCain’s Smithton worker lock out unlawful after an appeal by the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union.

The frozen food giant stopped production at its Smithton chip factory for six days saying it could not operate safely under the threat of industrial action.

The plant’s 90 workers were off site and not being paid during the lock out.

After first ruling in McCain’s favour, the commission has now backed the union’s call that the lock out was unlawful because it happened before any strike action was taken.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions said the decision was an important legal and moral victory the Tasmanian workers who had worked through the pandemic to ensure McCain’s products continued to make their way onto supermarket shelves and into Australian kitchens.

In a decision published late Thursday, the full bench of the Commission declared McCain had pre-emptively locked workers out in the cold.

“This important decision upholds the right of working people to strike and says that employers can’t behave like thugs by locking workers out illegally,” the ACTU said.

“These Smithton workers are merely asking to be paid as much as workers doing the same job on the mainland. They’re paid up to 15 per cent less than their counterparts doing the same work in Ballarat in regional Victoria.”

Smithton McCain vegetable processing factory.

Workers were locked out of the chip plant last Thursday. Production resumed on Tuesday ahead of the appeal at the commission.

McCain said it remained focused on negotiating in good faith for a fair and positive outcome for its people and its business and would stand firm on its commitment to safety its workers and products.

“We are considering our options and are well aware of our responsibilities within the Act – and will abide by the law,” the company said.

“The decision yesterday was not unanimous. We have not yet come to a decision on the next course of action.”

AWMU National Secreatry Steve Murphy said the commission’s initial decision was unfair, and if allowed to stand, bosses would have been sanctioned to pre-emptively lock workers out. I”t would have set industrial relations back more than a decade,” Mr Murphy said.

AMWU State Secretary John Short said McCain should hang its head in shame.

“They’ve tried to bully and starve out workers until they submit. It’s a disgrace,” Mr Short said.

“We need to ensure that McCain Foods returns to the bargaining table in good faith and brings their pay and conditions up to the same level as mainland workers.

“They need to cook up a better offer and stop making aggressive moves, locking workers out unlawfully and leaving them out in the cold during a freezing Tasmanian winter.”

McCain’s back in action after days long lockout over pay dispute

Wednesday, August 4 2021

TASMANIA’S McCain chip factory is back in production as the frozen food giant and the AMWU head to the Fair Work Commision in a bid to sort the pay dispute which saw operations stop for almost a week.

The Smithton plant’s 90 workers are fighting for the same pay as their mainland counterparts.

The chip production line stopped on Thursday last week with the company saying the plant could not operate safely in the face of industrial threats and workers were locked out of the plant.

Unions are challenging a Fair Work ruling that back McCain’s lock out be allowed to stand.

The AMWU applied to end the latest lockout arguing that McCain’s action was unlawful but Fair Work ruled in favour of the company.

The union has appealed the decision which is scheduled to be heard by the commission Wednesday.

On Tuesday night, a McCain spokesperson said all operations would resume ahead of the Fair Work mediation. The company said it was committed to negotiating in good faith and resuming production would allow Wednesday’s conversation to remain focused on reaching a “mutually beneficial” agreement to support its customers, its workers, its spud growers and the hundreds of people in Tasmania’s North West which relied on it for their livelihoods.

‘Act of aggression’: Frozen food fight heats up

McCain’s Smithton chip factory has stopped production as an industrial stand-off escalates.

The union representing workers has accused the frozen food giant of engaging in “an act of aggression” while McCain says it cannot safely operate its factory under a threat of stop work action.

Production stopped at 7pm Thursday and will not resume till the situation is resolved, the company said.

The Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union said McCain had locked out workers – who earn up to 15 per cent less than their mainland counterparts – before they took any industrial action.

The company said the action to close the plant only applied to employees who are union members. “We expect and are planning for other employees to come to site to conduct alternate duties,” the company said

“We have 10.5 tonnes of potatoes moving continuously down our line every hour.

“That’s washing, cutting and frying at high temperatures. This is serious machinery and it simply cannot be operated without the strictest protocols being adhered to.

“The uncertainty of multiple one-hour shut downs, with the line being emptied each time, strongly increases the risk of fryer fire – an unacceptable safety risk.”

It is the second time in two weeks workers have been locked out of the plant.

The AMWU is now preparing to challenge the lawfulness of the lockout which it says does not meet the requirements of the Fair Work Act because the company locked workers out before they had taken any industrial action of their own.

“The AMWU also understands McCain have applied to the Fair Work Commission to suspend or terminate all industrial action, but a copy of that application has not been provided to the union,” a spokesman said.

Workers have called on the frozen food company to return to the bargaining table and consider pay rises and conditions including improved sick leave, paid family and domestic violence leave and under payment protections.

AMWU State Secretary (Tasmania) John Short said locking workers out before they take industrial action is not a response but an act of aggression.”

“Applying to suspend or terminate industrial action, when the only industrial action happening is their own is not only premature; it is disingenuous,” Mr Short said.

“It’s time for McCain Foods to cook up a better offer and stop freezing out the workforce.

“It’s outrageous that McCain Foods workers in Tasmania make up to 15 per cent less than their workmates on the mainland and have lesser conditions.

“McCain workers took a pay cut to help the company through Covid, and now they’ve been locked out – they deserve better.”

The company said the notice it was served by the union on Thursday gave it no certainty on the structure of any further industrial action.

“We maintain that we continue to negotiate with the union in good faith, and that our offer to our people is extremely fair, and well in excess of the rate of inflation.

“We consider it even more reasonable in the context of a global pandemic that is causing havoc in our economy and causing us to incur significant cost as we support our food service customers who are enduring ongoing lockdowns. “