Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last week I had the opportunity to meet with Hazeldene's management and a delegation of Hazeldene's employees. Hazeldene's is a chicken manufacturer in my electorate. Their facility is at Lockwood. Concerns have been raised in the local media in the last couple of months about the employment practices and some of the working conditions of people who work for a subcontractor of Hazeldene's.

In the meetings that I had, it was confirmed by Hazledene's management that some of the employees and workers engaged by the subcontractors are in fact people here on temporary work visas: international students and people on working holidays. It has also been confirmed that there are between 150 and 200 people, depending upon the work that is required at the particular facility.

It has also been confirmed that there are serious concerns about the unfair and exploitative nature of the employment practices for people at the site—in particular, the pay and conditions—who are employed by the contractor, many of whom, as I have outlined, are on temporary visas. I was told by Hazeldene's management that these workers only work in the boning facility. However, it is unclear whether these employees are employees of the contractor, individual subcontractors or a combination of both. This was confirmed by the employees that I met with. They said that they believe that some of these workers were paid not by the hour but by a piece rate, by the kilo. One example is where the workers bone chickens. After boning a chicken they keep the wishbone and then, at the end of the day, they count up the number of wishbones, multiply that by a dollar figure and that is how they work out how much the worker has earned that day. They also talked about workers being paid per kilo of chicken meat and breast meat that they bone.

It is extraordinary to think that this is occurring in one of our major manufacturers in regional Victoria—people being paid by the kilo not by the hour. It was also confirmed that both foreign and permanent residents are being bussed up from Melbourne to Bendigo to do these jobs.

I stand for local jobs and I understand and believe that Hazeldene's employ 720 direct employees, making them one of the largest employers the region. But I believe that the company and the contractors can do more. What I want to see is the company, Hazeldene's, to sit down with employees and their union to resolve this matter as soon as possible. I would like to encourage any of the workers who work for the contractor to take up the offer of Hazeldene's to work directly for the company. It is only then that we can ensure that these employees have the same rights and respect as their co-workers. What we want to see is one agreement and one employer at the one worksite.