WORKERS at frozen food giant McCain in Tasmania, Australia, are celebrating a win as the company’s union-busting tactics have been declared illegal.

The Australian Fair Work Commission has ruled that McCain had acted illegally in locking out members of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) twice in two weeks — even before they had begun taking industrial action, reversing a previous ruling.

Workers at McCain Foods in Smithton, north-west Tasmania are campaigning for improved pay and conditions.

The AMWU has called on McCain Foods to deliver a decent deal and recognise that workers have bent over backwards to support the company during the pandemic.

The Tasmanian workers are being paid up to 15 per cent less than their mainland colleagues.

Workers are demanding improved sick pay – an important demand during the pandemic where public health advice encourages workers to stay at home even when mildly unwell to get tested for Covid-19.

Having enough sick leave is crucial to stopping the spread of illness at work, the AMWU says.

Workers have also called on the company to introduce a underpayment clause to protect them from being underpaid and a paid family and domestic violence clause, which other McCain workers have in their contracts.

“It’s outdated to see these workers in Smithton as the poor cousins of mainland workers. They deserve the same pay and conditions, that’s all they’re asking,”  said AMWU Tasmania secretary John Short.

“These essential workers have helped keep food on the table during a pandemic. They bent over backwards to support McCain Foods during a pandemic and instead of recognise that contribution the company opted to lock them out.”

Workers demanded McCain cook up a better deal at the table with unions, but so far the firm has refused to negotiate.