Ice cream giant's staff surveillance plan revealed

Ice cream company Streets has been likened to "North Korea" by angry employees, following claims it's considering installing 90 surveillance cameras at the Minto plant in Western Sydney.

Streets, owned by Unilever, intends to use the cameras for workplace surveillance “to monitor work ­activity to improve productivity” and the workers’ “adherence to time and attendance rules”, according to documents obtained by The Australian.

The Australian Manufacturing Wor­k­ers Union (AMWU) said Unilever announced the CCTV cameras would be installed after workers recently voted down a proposed enterprise agreement (EA).

The AMWU’s NSW ­secretary Steve Murphy said the union and employees could understand cameras being used for ­security and to monitor food safety, according to The Australian.

“But this is about monitoring workers and monitoring break times,’’ said Murphy.

“One of the workers said to me, ‘this used to be a great place to work but now this is how an ice cream factory would operate if it was run by North Korea’.”

Moreover, the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) claims Unilever has ‘betrayed workers’ at its Minto plant by attempting to terminate a workplace agreement and cut its workers’ pay by 4%.

As well as the pay cut, hundreds of Streets’ workers would have important conditions slashed, according to the ACTU.

“Limits on overtime, annual, personal, parental and compassionate leave, redundancy conditions, and protections against use of labour hire and contractors, would all be torn up,” said the ACTU.

“The strategy used by Unilever over a 16 month industrial dispute is disturbingly familiar. Management proposed a new agreement, which included harsh new conditions, which Streets’ workers overwhelmingly voted down.”

The ACTU said that in response, rather than continuing to negotiate, the company is applying to have the independent umpire slash wages by 46%.

“This practice has become a favourite of companies looking to bully their workforces into submission, and the precedent set up the Fair Work Commission’s (FWC) rulings on disputes at Aurizon has allowed hundreds of agreements to be terminated.”

HRD contacted Unilever for comment and a spokesperson said that the FWC is currently assessing Unilever’s application for termination of the existing EA at the Streets ice cream factory.

During this time, all employees are continuing to be paid in line with the terms and conditions of the current EA, and we will keep them informed of any updates.

Unilever committed to employees last week to preserve a range of benefits in their existing enterprise agreement, including rates of pay, until 30 April 2018 (or if a new agreement is reached, whichever date is earlier).

This commitment would come into effect in the event of a FWC decision to terminate the existing enterprise agreement.

“The intent of this commitment is to provide our employees with a period of stability while discussions are ongoing to find a mutually agreeable solution to make the site more viable and competitive in the long term,” said the spokesperson.

Unilever also claimed that the decision to apply to terminate the existing EA at the Streets ice cream factory at Minto was made after an in-principle agreement was reached with the AMWU for a proposed replacement EA, but workers at the factory voted to reject that proposal.

“The application followed careful consideration of all options to create more flexible working conditions and enhance the competitiveness and viability of the factory in the longer-term, which is ultimately in the best interest of employees and the company,” said the spokesperson.

“The facts are that the costs of production at the Minto site remain high and uncompetitive and this is not a sustainable position.

“The suggestion by unions that Unilever will or may reduce employee wages by 46% has no basis in fact.

The spokesperson added that having been at the centre of negotiations for a new enterprise agreement for more than 16 months the AMWU should be aware of this.

“As part of the FWC process, employees, the AMWU and Unilever will all get to have a say and be heard,” said the spokesperson.

“We understand the prospect of any change can be unsettling so we have also made available a range of support measures to assist employees throughout the FWC process and beyond.”