Matt Journeaux, AMIEU Assistant Branch Secretary today issued the following Media Release:
INFERIOR TEYS AUSTRALIA/CARGILL AGREEMENT NOW A SMOKING WRECK
MATT JOURNEAUX – ASSISTANT BRANCH SECRETARY
A.M.I.E.U. – 19 September 2014
Speaking in response to the Fair Work Commission appeal decision of 18 September 2014 quashing the Teys Australia/Cargill Beenleigh enterprise agreement, Matt Journeaux said:
“For over a year now, the AMIEU has been saying that the Teys Australia/Cargill enterprise agreement applying to the Beenleigh plant was approved by a dodgy vote.
Yesterday a victory for democracy occurred when a Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission essentially agreed that trainee supervisors who weren’t covered by the agreement shouldn’t have voted on it. The result of a very close vote was clearly affected by this irregularity.
Teys Australia/Cargill drew up the roll of voters. They now have to accept that they were the authors of their own misfortune. They should stop throwing hundreds of thousands of dollars away on lawyers and legal proceedings and get back to the negotiating table.
The AMIEU has been successful in not one but two appeals relating to this inferior agreement. Teys Australia/Cargills won’t accept the decisions and are fighting aspects of this in the Federal Court. They should accept the umpire’s decision and get on with things.
The AMIEU has always said that the agreement took workers at Beenleigh backwards with increased workloads and lower pay. No self-congratulating corporate propaganda about profit sharing schemes has addressed that big backward step.
The next time Teys Australia/Cargill want to give themselves a pat on the back, we recommend they seek a second opinion.”
