Welcome to the Meatworkers Union
Line Speeds, Worker Injuries and Food Safety
New Zealand meat workers locked out now for 10 weeks by Talleys/Affco
Locked-out and striking North Island meatworkers have arrived at the Talley family's Motueka homes in a bid to tell the freezing work owners how their communities have been ripped apart.
Tell Ted Baillieu to fund Fair Work decision on Equal Pay for community service workers handed down on 1 February 2012
Graham Bird and Laurie Burley retired Xmas 2011 - they will be missed by AMIEU
We recognise commitment to the Union
Woolworth's Supermarket Agreement - Negotiations Continuing
Meatworkers have enjoyed a history
and a culture of unionism
This has been built over many years and has continued from generation to generation. Work in meatworks and associated workplaces has always been physically hard, dangerous and skilful. Without the strength of organized labour it would undoubtedly be more dangerous and have stayed poorly paid as well.
Most of the conditions and wages many now enjoy were the result of the unity and industrial action (strikes etc) of workers over many years before them. All the major sheds through the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties were one hundred percent unionised and were therefore able to put up a united front against powerful employers who would otherwise have exploited them. In Victoria particularly, the AMIEU led the way in the establishment of industrial awards, which many now take for, granted. Things like equal pay for women, long service leave, Superannuation, redundancy, annual leave, sick leave and public holidays were established and developed by the union, backed up with united industrial pressure.
This has been built over many years and has continued from generation to generation. Work in meatworks and associated workplaces has always been physically hard, dangerous and skilful. Without the strength of organized labour it would undoubtedly be more dangerous and have stayed poorly paid as well.Most of the conditions and wages many now enjoy were the result of the unity and industrial action (strikes etc) of workers over many years before them. All the major sheds through the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties were one hundred percent unionised and were therefore able to put up a united front against powerful employers who would otherwise have exploited them. In Victoria particularly, the AMIEU led the way in the establishment of industrial awards, which many now take for, granted. Things like equal pay for women, long service leave, Superannuation, redundancy, annual leave, sick leave and public holidays were established and developed by the union, backed up with united industrial pressure.
