Nick G
“Lilydale chickens roam free, but its workers are caged. Free the workers!”
This fighting call was issued by the National Union of Workers and led to a noisy protest outside Adelaide Poultry, a Lilydale-owned company, towards the end of September.
The immediate cause was the sacking of a Sudanese worker, Anyuon Mabior, (below) after he had complained about a racist email sent between two company supervisors.
Asked to provide evidence of the email, the existence of which was denied by the company, Anyuon accessed the computer. He was told that his lack of trust in the company was grounds for summary dismissal, and that his use of the computer to get the evidence asked for by the state manager amounted to serious and wilful misconduct!
Deplorable working conditions
Anyuon had joined the NUW because of deplorable working conditions at the plant.
There are some 300 workers and the vast majority of the process workers are either Chinese or Sudanese. Workers are grouped around production tasks in distinct ethnic groups in order to separate and divide the workforce.
Union membership is strongly discouraged and the NUW has been denied right of entry.
Many of the workers are on labour hire and paid below award wages, below the minimum wage and with lower casual loadings than those to which they are entitled.
Many are regarded as sub-contractors. This means they are taken to be self-employed and are therefore responsible for their own tax, WorkCover and other expenses.
On any one shift over 30 women have to share only one toilet and the same numbers of workers have to share just one microwave oven at lunchtime. (Most eat boiled noodles for lunch.)
One worker on a Facebook supporters’ site claims that “workers are called into work at 2am but if the machines are broken down for say two hours they are not paid and sit around until they are repaired. Workers who write down their hours to keep track have their notebooks stolen by the foreman…”
There are claims that workers are sacked if they make a WorkCover claim or ask for a payslip.
But it is the openly racist workplace culture that has infuriated workers. One Sudanese wrote on the Facebook site, “I am also an employee there working threats and discrimination and bullying.” Another wrote: “I have worked for Adelaide Poultry since 2007, I have been bullied, discriminated, harassed, oppressed and my precious rights were all disobeyed, this is a right time for the world to hear me crying out for justice!”
Organising under difficulty
When the NUW asked for support from other unions for a rally outside the Adelaide Poultry plant, there was an overwhelming response (below). Many unions sent organisers, officials or office staff. The flags of the AEU, AWU, IEU LHMU and others defiantly flew as NUW organiser Dave Garland, Anyuon Mabior and several politicians all blasted the company over the top of a “noise barrier” put in place by the company to prevent workers inside the plant from hearing the speeches.
But where there is oppression, people will fight back.
Several days later, Garland was reporting that the NUW was now in direct contact with over half of the workforce.
“This is because the fearful workers have been confident enough to give us their contact details,” he said.
“The rally helped greatly to this end.
“It may not seem much to us in the movement sometimes, but I can tell you all that many workers thought it was a big deal that so many different unions sent representation to their support.”
However, the NUW has to engage in “home organising” –visiting workers at their homes at times that are convenient to them, which means 24/7 union availability.
It is a difficult method of organising workers.
“We are signing new members daily and are well on our way to a majority,” said Garland.
“We won’t stop until it is a unionised and law compliant company.”
Guarantee workplace rights!
No to racism!
Equal rights for women!
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