It’s not as if any of our large food and beverage producing companies for instance, with exports worth well over $34 billion per year, are somehow unable to afford safe and healthy work sites.
In fact in my opinion, if such companies refuse to improve and cannot maintain the bare minimum of standards, then they should simply be shut down. Otherwise we risk a substantial percentage of our workforce being permanently incapacitated either through injury or death, which is a true disaster in not just an economic sense of the word.
However despite our lawful employment regulations being well known, which should ensure every employee is valued and gets to go home to their families after work, here we are once again talking about workers being mistreated. We're still seeing numerous employees being injured and killed while at work, which is simply not an acceptable nor sustainable way to operate.
Perhaps the worst offender in New Zealand for treating worker’s as an expendable commodity is a highly profitable food manufacturer called Talley’s Group Ltd. This unethical company has been inexplicably getting away with ignoring people's valid concerns and the Governments already weak health and safety requirements for numerous years.
Yesterday, 1 News reported:
Over 170 Talley's staff injured at three sites in one year, probe reveals
Food manufacturing giant Talley’s recorded 174 separate injuries to workers over the course of a single year at its three manufacturing sites in Marlborough, a 1 NEWS investigation can reveal.
Earlier this month, photos were leaked of filthy machines at the Ashburton factory despite Talley's CEO Tony Hazlett saying the machines are cleaned regularly.
The company runs a massive operation in Marlborough - their marketing material showing the production of seafood, vegetables and more.
But now, 1 NEWS has obtained leaked documents, revealing what those ads don't show - the human impact.
An internal report shows there were 174 injuries in Blenheim, Havelock and Picton alone between October 2019 and September 2020 - an average of one every two or three days.
It’s one thing to have a dangerous work site to begin with, but it’s quit another to continue to put workers at risk of injury, sickness or death knowing full well that those dangers exist. In effect Talley’s has been playing Russian roulette with people’s lives, which isn’t just a bad look for the company, it’s a bad look for New Zealand as well.
Of course Talley’s is fully aware of what this type of bad press will do to their bottom line. That’s why when news recently broke about the dangerous and unsanitary practices at Talley’s factories, their first reaction was to try and close down reporters by threatening legal action.
Thankfully those legal threats failed, mainly because 1 News has been careful to report only the facts. But you’ve got to wonder what other underhanded tactics Talley’s has been employing that has allowed them to continue with such bad health and safety practices for so long?
1 NEWS has spoken to two anonymous whistleblowers who add to that - claiming health and safety concerns are regularly ignored at the Blenheim plant.
“They just want to ignore you, and brush it under a carpet because there's paperwork that comes with it, and it's put in the too hard basket, or it's going to cost too much money,” one said.
It was also alleged that when staff do file reports, they're often not followed up.
“I never heard back about any of it - one was very serious, I wouldn't have gone home to my family,” a complainant said.
It’s not as if Talley’s Group Ltd cannot afford to make proper improvements to ensure workers are safe either. After all, they had annual revenue of nearly a billion dollars last year, so any failure to upgrade and therefore continue to put workers in danger is clearly not just an oversight. Instead it's a cold and calculated decision to maximise profits at their worker's expense.
Without question the bad business practices as those displayed by Talley’s Group Ltd risks wasting years of hard work and millions of dollars in Government funded advertising campaigns. Sadly that substantial investment and our hard won international reputation is something that Talley’s has been trying to flush down the toilet.
Combine this substantial cost with their Managing Director Peter Talley bribing corrupt right-wing politicians in order to try and stop any oversight of their environmentally damaging fishing practices plus the more recent reports of them just dumping untreated chemicals down the drain, and Talley's is a clear winner for a prized Arsehole Award.
In truth, and considering their previous unwarranted legal threats against now deceased union leader Helen Kelly, plus the historic mistreatment of workers during their brutal 2012 lockout, it's surprising that Talley’s Group Ltd hasn’t previously won a coveted Roger Award as well.
Perhaps CAFCA, given just how bad this shameful company has become, might consider starting those prestigious awards again? They've certainly got at least one worthwhile winner, and likely many more nominations for Talley's Group Ltd, who are justifiably now receiving the recognition they so clearly deserve.
To this effect, please consider supporting better business practices by banning Talley's produced products. Because without the public sending market signals to these unethical businesses, it's unlikely that anything will change for the better.
