BY TERRICA STRUDWICK
ROCKHAMPTON On July 29, Consolidated Meat Group decided to close the Lakes Creek meatworks after a seven-month industrial dispute. The 600 remaining staff, including management, have been laid off.
The dispute started in January, when 1350 employees were locked out from the plant. After being locked out for nearly five months, the meatworkers returned to work on April 30, accepting an Industrial Relation Commission (IRC) ruling that they would be employed under the sub-standard pay and conditions of the federal meat award.
Not all workers were re-employed. Since then, workers have faced unfair dismissals and horrendous working conditions, resulting in rolling strikes and overtime bans.
John Hughes, CMG joint chief executive officer, has admitted that the meatworks was profitable before the dispute was provoked, confirming unionists fears that it was designed to impose sweatshop conditions on the workforce.
Les Cooke, Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union secretary at the Lakes Creek plant, told Green Left Weekly: CMG forced workers into submission to regulate the meat industry across the country so that when bargaining agreements expire bosses can apply to the IRC and force their employees to work for lower wages and poorer conditions.
Cooke is not convinced that the closure isn't just another ploy. I wouldn't say its dead and buried, he said.
Given that CMG recently amalgamated with Theise Brothers, who sell beef to America, closing the second biggest meatworks in Australia seems an odd decision. But it is more than 1000 workers who are paying the price.
From Green Left Weekly, August 7, 2002.
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