THOMAS Foods International has labelled allegations of abuse, bullying and unhygienic practices at its Murray Bridge plant 'unfair, unfounded and untrue'.
The allegations were made by representatives of the Australian Meat Industry Employees Union at a Senate inquiry hearing in Adelaide earlier this month.
The union focused its evidence on the issue of unskilled workers coming in on 457 visas and being trained by locals.
Branch secretary Sharra Anderson said once visa holders were trained, a number of locals were displaced.
The Education and Employment References Committee inquiring into Australia's temporary work visa program heard 457 workers did not know how to sharpen a knife properly and did not follow basic cleanliness and hygiene. Once trained, they were paid more money than locals and valued by the company because they were easier to manipulate and would not stand up for their rights.
An example was given of a 457 worker not being permitted to use the toilet and forced to urinate on himself.
TFI employee and union delegate Greg Mitchell was asked what he would say to Woolworths or Coles – to whom it supplies – about conditions at the plant and said he would tell them they should inspect it properly themselves.
He alleged workers would not wash their hands after toilet breaks and were wearing mesh aprons and taking knives to the toilet. "I would not buy the meat myself," Mr Mitchell said.
TFI chief operating officer David McKay said the company rejected the union's allegations and was surprised by them when at no stage had such concerns been formally raised with them.
"We have clear workplace anti-harassment and anti-bullying policies in place, which are communicated regularly to all supervisors and managers," he said.
"We have never refused an employee a toilet break. We treat all our staff equally and fairly."
Mr McKay said TFI had transitioned many employees on 457 visas to permanent residency and had no evidence sponsored employees had been threatened with sponsorship removal.
He said 457 visa holders made up less than 10pc of the workforce of 1350 staff at Murray Bridge and 3000 across the group.
"We work extremely hard to promote and encourage local employment and we're also very active in other ways to support the local community," Mr Mr McKay said.
"We're constantly advertising for local workers to fill a number of vacancies."
He said the company's hygiene protocols were industry best practice and its supervisors and quality assurance staff monitored the workplace throughout the day.
In his evidence, SA Wine Industry Association chief executive officer Brian Smedley told the committee the temporary work visa system was important to the industry in the event positions could not be filled by local applicants, although the 457 visa stream was small.
He said many of the state's 18 wine regions were based in regional areas, outside major population centres, which could make it difficult to attract applicants to fill vacancies.
Mr Smedley said data showed that in the past ten years, about 38 winemakers and viticulturists had been recruited to SA through 457 visas.
He said vacancies could be filled but when there was peak demand there were difficulties, requiring a seasonal workforce.
But overall, the wine industry was not experiencing problems like other areas of agriculture and the SA wine industry association was working to educate industry members who were keen to know what they needed to be doing and do it.
The committee also heard from Coles representatives and the fair work ombudsman.
