Labour leader joins locked-out workers

Labour leader David Shearer joined about 40 locked-out Affco workers on the Horotiu picket line this morning.

His appearance was not soon enough for the union workers who faced their 77th day locked out or on strike as Affco owner Talley's refuses to renew their collective agreement.

The Meat Workers Union is in talks over a third offer on the table, which workers say is no better than the previous two.

The Government is this week considering changes to industrial relation law including removing the requirement to conclude collective bargaining and giving employers an option of opting out of collective agreements but Mr Shearer said this would undermine them and be a backwards step.

"I'm very supportive of collective agreements. I think the issue here is they (union workers) are willing to negotiate but now what's happening is they are being locked out. What we don't want to see is those workers being locked out and not being given a real fair go."

Mr Shearer called on Talley's to be more open to the "very reasonable demands" of workers.

The Meat Workers Union today began to challenge the legality of the Talley's Affco lockout in the Employment Court in Auckland.

- Nikki Preston of the New Zealand Herald

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