Some workers have been pressured by employers not to join a union, or to sign an individual contract rather than a collective agreement, by financial incentives or through fear of the loss of a job, or demotion to a lower ranked job.
In 2011, AFFCO Meat Company offered employees at some of its plants an additional extra 3% in wages to accept individual employment agreements [IEAs] in preference to a collective employment agreement [CEA]. Those accepting IEAs were promised secure jobs and a NZD1,000 attendance bonus for 98% attendance. Meat Workers Union (MWU) members were laid off, but workers on IEAs with shorter service, were kept on. The employer had previously agreed to seniority guaranteeing longer employment. AFFCO employed non-union workers ahead of union members at AFFCO meat works at Imlay; Rangiuru, Horotiu, and Moerewa. MWU applied to the Employment Court to stop AFFCO’s actions. In April 2011, the Judge ruled in the union’s favour and said that AFFCO had to engage union members in accordance with seniority lists. The Judge found that AFFCO had favoured non-union workers in offering them longer contracts than unionised workers and that this practice was discriminatory. In a separate case in 2011, the Employment Relations Authority found that AFFCO had demoted a skilled senior employee down to a basic labourer’s position because of his union activities.
Even when legal action is successful, financial and other pressures may result in employees leaving the union. Industrial and legal action was initiated between the Dairy Workers Union and Open Country Dairy Ltd in 2009 following a bitter dispute with the company who reduced conditions of employment and union rights. The dispute was concluded in 2011 and the union won the right to collective bargaining in Court, but the decision came too late for the workers and only 6 of the 34 locked out workers retained employment with the company. Those six workers subsequently accepted financial incentives to leave the union. Open Country Dairy now has no union members.