TEYS meatworkers in Tamworth are paying more tax than their own company, and yet can’t get a wage increase that keeps up with the cost of living.
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That’s the union’s claim as Teys Cargill is ordered back to the bargaining table “after seven months of kicking and squealing” on a wage rise.
The Fair Work Commission made the order after pay talks stalled as Tamworth workers sought an increase of 3-5 per cent and the company offered first zero then 1.25 per cent.
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Teys Australia corporate services general manager Tom Maguire declined to hear or respond to the union’s individual claims, saying these matters were between the company and the workers.
“Our general response to the union’s release is that enterprise bargaining is something we take really seriously between ourselves and our employees,” Mr Maguire said.
“We’re discussing these matters with our employees but won’t comment on anything outside of that.
“Obviously we value our employees immensely, but we have no relationship with the union – our relationship is with our employees.”
‘Not excessive’
The union’s Newcastle and northern branch secretary, Grant Courtney, said it had “been trying to hold the largest food company in the world to account”.
He said the workers’ enterprise bargain agreement had expired in November and they now hadn’t had a pay rise in 18 months.
“Our guys are seeking a reasonable wage increase of between 3 and 5 per cent,” Mr Courtney said.
“The norm at the moment [for our industry] is somewhere between 2.5 and 3 per cent, which we’ve been achieving in enterprise bargaining with most of the employers …
“We don’t go out with excessive claims; we understand the complexities of the industry, the costs associated with the industry.”
Mr Courtney said the union started a majority support determination petition as part of its application for the Fair Work Commission order to bargain.
“An incredible 290 workers from Teys Cargill’s 400-strong workforce signed this petition, saying that no wage rise simply wasn’t good enough and that they wanted to sit down to bargain for better,” he said.
“They were offering zero.
“They then … stuck their hand down the back of the couch and found some small change – because basically 1.25 per cent is 25 cents an hour for the lowest-paid there and 38 cents an hour for the highest-paid.
“They’re not high-paid: between 40 and 60 grand a year, that’s what they earn.”
Questions
Mr Courtney said, however, that even 1.25 per cent was just “half CPI – living standards at the moment are around 2.5 per cent” and “a drop in the bucket for a company that last year turned over $US1.9 billion worldwide”.
“According to the ATO, in the 2015-16 financial year Teys enjoyed an income of $2.4 billion while managing to pay zero dollars in tax,” he said.
“Meanwhile, Cargill enjoys a revenue of more than $100 billion each year, and is the largest privately held corporation in the United States.”
A union spokesperson said the AMIEU had learnt “from internal meat industry sources that Teys senior management were rewarded for strong financial performance by the company with substantial bonuses last year”.
“If times are so tough, why did senior Teys management staff receive huge bonuses last year?” Mr Courtney said.
“Why are Teys workers paying more tax than their own company is?
“These are all questions that Teys Cargill must answer as they are finally forced to sit down at the bargaining table with their workforce.”
He said that despite the Fair Work ruling that wage talks must continue in good faith, “that doesn’t mean to say they’re going to offer any more than 1.25 per cent”.
“It’s up to the pressure of the workers to determine what the outcome is, but at least we’ve gotten them to the bargaining table – and it’s taken us seven months to do that.”
Mr Maguire said there was no particular date set for further talks, and that Teys was simply “in constant discussion with our employees”.
Teys Cargill is a joint venture between the Australian Teys family and US food giant Cargill.
Their meat processing plants supply beef to Woolworths stores across Australia.