Manufacturing: Meat and poultry supplies

Investigations of 13 contractors operating under NSW Government contract 819 Meat and Poultry Supplies were conducted by the Office of Industrial Relations between July 2007 and April 2008. 

An investigation of one contractor was terminated after the business indicated that it no longer performed work under the contract.  A review of the workplace agreement governing the employment conditions in this business indicated that the business would likely pass a no net detriment test if applied.

The 12 businesses investigated fully engaged 403 workers at the time of the inspections.  An assessment of the workers identified that 62 per cent were engaged on a full time basis, while 32 per cent were engaged on a casual basis.  The majority of workers were male (77 per cent).  Five apprentices were employed across the 12 businesses.

The investigations identified that one business was fully compliant at the time of the inspection.  A further four businesses achieved full compliance during the course of the investigations.  Inspectors issued the remaining seven businesses with formal cautions regarding identified non-compliance with industrial relations legislation.  At the conclusion of the compliance activities, no businesses had been fined or prosecuted.

Inspectors identified 17 breaches of industrial relations legislation across eleven workplaces, as detailed in the following table.

One business identified as underpaying its staff has rectified this matter, resulting in $2,008 being paid to its employees.

The Office has recommended that five businesses be inspected at a later stage.  Pending other commitments, it is anticipated that these follow-up inspections will occur during 2008/09.