CMP ANZCO Lock out fact sheet

What happened in this dispute?
• The union and the company (ANZCO CMP Rangitikei) have been negotiating to renew the collective agreement at the plant since April 2011.

• They have not been able to reach an agreement as the company has been seeking significant cuts in pay and allowances.

• It has stated that their goal is to remove 15% of the costs from the time a lamb enters the plant to it leaving.

• This has meant proposals to reduce both the hourly rate workers are paid and allowances with cuts of more than 20% in overall pay for workers.

• On 3 October the company issued a lock out notice. This notice locked out over 300 members of the meat workers union. It stated that to return to work the workers had to agree to the employers claim for a new collective agreement incorporating the new rates of pay and proposed changes to shift organisation.

• Before the lockout notice, the company put all the workers on annual leave for a week. During this week they contacted many workers one at a time and offered them individual agreements containing the pay cuts and told them that if they signed the lock out notice would not apply to them.

• Over 100 workers signed without union advice and returned to work. Many were migrants and the union believes they were given wrong information about the implications of not signing. These workers were also required to leave the union in order to sign these new individual agreements.

• These workers now on individual agreements, and the fact the season is not yet in full swing has enabled the company to continue to operate and leave the remaining 111 workers locked out (a lock out which took effect from 19 October).

The cuts include:
• Dropping maximum redundancy payments to 10 weeks from 15

• Reducing pay rates from $31.10 to $25.00 per hour for A grade positions and from $26.88 to $21.00 per hour for B grade positions at the top end dependent on maintaining kill rates and more if these are not maintained.

• Reduction in long service leave (devalued by 20%), night shift allowance ($11.30), daily gear cleaning allowance (6.25 per day) and breakdown payments.

• There was also a proposal to add a number of provisions that were objectionable to the union – a trial period, a requirement to keep working beyond shift ending times without pay to finish tasks, instant dismissal for evidence of gang affiliations of workers.

How much do these workers get paid?
• The annual income of these workers varies but on average they range from $43,000 to $46,000 with the bottom earnings as low as $23,000 and a top income of $53,800 which includes additional shifts etc. The workers have offered to take a 10% pay cut which is extremely significant on these low wages – but this has been rejected by the company.

Who does CMP Rangitikei employ?
• About 350 workers including butchers, boners, slaughtermen, Halal slaughtermen, labourers, janitors, yard hands, etc.

Who is the company?
ANZCO is a private “New Zealand” company jointly owned by two Japanese companies: Itoham Food Inc and Nippon Suisan Kaisha Ltd, and the directors and management of ANZCO Foods Ltd. Each shareholder group individually owns more than 25% of the company. Sir Graeme Harrison is the Chairman of the Board and established ANZCO.

What do they do?
• ANZCO Foods has three core business activities: It procures NZ beef and lamb, processes “ prime New Zealand product in local, state-of-the-art, accredited facilities”, and markets premium beef and lamb products to over 80 countries around the world.

• In its words : “Our profitable and customer-driven businesses result in an annual turnover exceeding $1.3 billion, making us one of New Zealand’s largest exporters.”
What is the company structure?
There company is made up of several businesses: ANZCO Farms, Five Star Beef, CMP, Riverlands, ANZCO Prepared Foods, ANZCO Green Island, New Zealand Meat Marketing (NZMM), ANZCO Foods Australasia, Westmeat.

Who do they sell to?
• ANZCO has a long standing partnership with the Waitrose supermarket chain in the United Kingdom. According to its website... “Waitrose is so passionate about our product that together with ANZCO, they invest significant time and money annually to work closely with us and our farmer producers, so they can fully understand our supply chain.” Waitrose prides itself on its supply chain quality.

• McDonald’s® .ANZCO is a primary supplier of burger patties.

• It also supplies food products to many other countries and companies around the world.

• It is big on Corporate Social Responsibility!

Who is CMP Rangitikei?
CMP is owned by ANZCO. It is a processing plant which processes lamb. It runs an On-farm Quality Assurance which it bills as a three-way partnership existing between customers, a group of leading farmers and CMP. Only animals from certified farms, raised according to the programme's standards and trucked by fully accredited transport operators are processed.

CMP operates groups to enable customers to meet with producers. It has established Producer Groups for Waitrose, Tesco, Aleph and Bull.

How can you support these workers?

• Donations
The CTU has a bank account for donations. Ensuring these workers are not starved back to work is a priority. With such a large group of workers, sustaining the level of donations is a real challenge – bank account : 38-9007-0894028-08 NZCTU – Disputes Fund

• Adopt a family
We are asking for groups of workers to adopt a family and keep them in food. 21 meals a week – either food or money. We will give you a family that you can contact directly. Email eileenb@nzctu.org.nz

• Attend the picket
• On State Highway 1 just before the Marton turnoff. Every day Monday to Friday. Go show your support. Contact Robbie for times: robbie.magee@yahoo.co.nz

• Join the Facebook page
Keep up with the dispute Locked out workers support group

• Join the campaign to target ANZCO customers for support
Particularly McDonalds and Waitrose. See Facebook page for activities.

• Email the company key shareholders:
Sir Graeme Harrison - Graeme.Harrison@anzcofoods.com
Mark Clarkson – Mark.Clarkson@anzcofoods.com

ENDS

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