Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to talk about an issue that is currently occurring in my constituency, and that is the dispute in the McCain’s workforce. There are some 400 workers employed at the McCain plant in Ballarat—400 workers who are, frankly, dealing with significant uncertainty about their future employment conditions as a result of the current workplace agreement negotiations.

A particular concern is the attempt by McCain to tender out significant parts of the operations at the site, such as cleaning and engineering, and use cut-price contractors to replace jobs. They have already flown in workers from New Zealand in response to the industrial action that is currently being undertaken. The dispute is about entitlements and hard-fought conditions in that place of work. It is also about a fight for Ballarat, to ensure that we continue to have high-paid, good quality work in our regional community.

We have already seen repercussions of conditions and standards not being upheld. I am told that, last month, a worker at the factory had both his forearms badly burnt by oil that sprayed from a hot chip fryer that had not been properly cleaned by replacement workers. When people go to work they deserve to be safe and have proper conditions in place. McCain's proposed agreement would also hand the company power to move employees from eight- to 12-hour shifts with minimal input. That has a significant impact on family life in my community. One shift worker who has worked for the plant for some 27 years said:

They don't want our agreement; they simply want to be able to do it.

That's a little bit frightening to people.

I encourage McCain to bargain in good faith.

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