McCain workers seal deal

WORKERS at McCain’s potato processing factory in Smithton have won their battle for a better deal.

The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union said the frozen-food giant had agreed to an in-principle deal which would bring Tasmanian wages and conditions in line with workers on the mainland.

“The days of Tasmanian workers being treated as the ‘poor cousin’ are over,” AMWU state secretary John Short said.

The workers, who were shut out of the factory for almost a week when they threatened to strike, have also won paid family and domestic violence leave, double time on all overtime, and apprentices will soon earn the site rate instead of the award rate.

After court action, the lockout was deemed illegal by the Fair Work Commission. McCain then offered to backpay workers who were offsite over six days in late July and early August. That money is yet to come through, however.

The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union said the Tasmanian employees would receive a 3.8 per cent pay rise in the first year, and then CPI plus 1 per cent in the second and third years of the agreement.