Battle looms at meatworks

BY TERRICA STRUDWICK

ROCKHAMPTON — The Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union (AMIEU) has spent the last week in unsuccessful negotiations with Consolidated Meat Group management in an attempt to reopen the Lakes Creek meatworks. CMG announced the closure of the meatworks on January 12.

If the plant does re-open, it will come at the workers' expense. CMG has proposed pay cuts that will take some wages below the safety-net award, including a proposed 47% cut for some of the lowest paid workers. Workers paid on an hourly rate are expected to take a pay cut of up to $2 per hour, a net loss of $82 per week.

CMG executive chairperson Ray O'Dell argued in the January 30 Morning Bulletin that "we want to maintain incomes but are seeking to get [workers] to do more". Claims the company was trying to cut wages, he said, were "fallacious".

According to the AMIEU, however, even working longer hours, workers' wages will decrease dramatically. The union maintains that it will not accept pay cuts, although it is prepared to consider more hours on Saturdays, shifts longer than eight hours and no rostered days off.

At a public meeting for CMG employees on February 1, it was obvious that many workers were not happy with the way the AMIEU was negotiating. As tempers flared, one worker rose to his feet, exhorting the crowd to stand firm against the company. The meeting indicated that CMG workers are prepared to fight hard to keep their conditions.

From Green Left Weekly, February 6, 2002.

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From GLW issue 479