The Grated Cheese Company Closes

loyal union members will be missed

By Mark Apiata-Wade

The Grated Cheese Company (Fonterra Secondary Cheese Plant) in Panmure, South Auckland, closed its doors in March due to Fonterra shifting all of its secondary cheese processing to their upgraded Eltham factory in Taranaki.

The Grated Cheese Company was started by private owner/managers Mal Smith and Bill Walker as a very small six man operation in a converted skyline garage specialising in grating cheese, which at the time no one else was doing. The business grew very quickly and at the time of its closure, had over 100 Dairy Worker Union members.

As the Company grew, Anchor Products bought a half share, with Fonterra eventually buying all of it.

The Sites workers had a proud and active union history, first being covered by the old National Dairy Factories Award, then their own stand alone Site Contract, then in the last few years, the Mainland Collective Employment Agreement.

They were the first workers in New Zealand of any Union to negotiate the Bargaining Agents Fee clause (as it was known then) into a Collective Agreement in 2001. This quickly spread to other Dairy Industry Agreements before being ruled illegal in both the Employment Court and Court of Appeal before the Dairy Workers Union, along with other Labour Party affiliated unions lobbied the Government successfully for a law change to make it legal.

As the owners Bill and Mal said at the time "We agree, why should non-paying non-union members bludge the wages and conditions that union members have paid for".

The workers here also made a number of other breakthroughs to be proud of, pioneering the first 3 days on 4 days off roster by 12 hour days - working 36 hours per week and being paid for 40; and written set agreed Monthly Production Bonus payments paid collectively to departments along with Individual Bonus payments for good attendance.

Gadiel Asiata, the Site Delegate was the DWU Runanga Convenor and was active in the Labour Party and Pacific Island Community in Auckland.

During the closure process, the Union along with Fonterra negotiated a Training Redeployment, Job Search programme utilising the Governments Ministry of Social Development (MSD) and the Dairy Industries Training Organisation (NZITO), which was of great benefit assisting workers to be trained for and help find jobs both within the Dairy Industry and outside. All but two workers who were wanting jobs got them. As with most redundancies, some took the opportunity to gain further skills, some to go back to the Islands and most pleasing were a number relocated to other Dairy Worker positions at various Fonterra Brands sites such as Takanini, Tip Top and Eltham and The Sutton Group.

Wherever they go, we wish them well.