Dairy Workers

On February 3, workers at Dairy Farmers of America, a milk processing plant in Adrian, voted for representation with the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Union in an effort to gain job security and a voice on the job. The February 3 vote ends the workers' two-month union organizing campaign during which they stood in solidarity.

Supported by the IUF, Aldo Lezana, president of the National Federation of Dairy Sector in Chile (FENATRAL), travelled to New Zealand and met with leaders of Fonterra to whom he explained the situation of workers in Chile Soprole.

The National Union of Workers and the New Zealand Dairy Workers Union (NZDWU) both represent dairy workers and both are active participants in the dairy division of the International Union of Food Workers (IUF).

The NUW and NZDWU have developed a relationship over the last decade and on Monday 6 February the two unions formally entered into a Cooperation Agreement.

Fonterra Australia was convicted and fined $ 300,000 in the Melbourne County Court on October 2011 following a death of a worker due to unsafe storage practices at its cheese factory on September 2009

At its factory at Stanhope in county Victoria, Fonterra was operating an unsafe stacking system for bulk bags of salt which caused the death of 52 years old forklift driver John Harrap.

Please find below the links to the Arla company where you can find information on the company in general together with it's products and enviromental and climate work.

Arla will invest half a billion in Jutland. That means around 100 new jobs in Nr. Vium and Videbæk, Denmark.
 
Arla just announced their investment plans for 2012 which means about DKK 500 million to the Videbæk area in West Jutland. Approximately 100 new jobs could be expected, and this is very welcome, says Trade Union Secretary Karl Ovesen, Food Workers' Union NNF Mid West Jutland, Denmark.
 

Closing of the dairy factories of Arla in Hjørring and Klovborg, Denmark, is now officially announced. DKK 45,000 will be paid per employee for training and retention.
 
Arla's board has confirmed that the dairy factories in Hjørring in North Jutland and Klovborg in Mid Jutland, both Denmark, are to be closed. Production is moved to Taulov, Denmark, which is expected to accommodate 43 new employees.
 

IUF affiliated NNF, Food Workers' Union of Denmark hosted a meeting with IUF affiliated NGG Germany on December 21, 2011 to discuss their joint strategies on organising Arla dairy company.
 

Since new management took over in 2002 by a group composed of young and senior leaders led by Hector Ponce, ATILRA (Association of Dairy Industry Workers of Argentina) has continued to grow, both nationally and internationally.

Ten years ago the organization was going through an extremely critical moment, difficult and even hopeless in economic terms and their representation in the business and relations with the authorities of state.

Unions organising dairy companies from New Zealand, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, USA and Australia came together November 16-18 in Hamilton to discuss the ongoing and further work of Dairy division. James Ritchie (NZDWU) chosen as chair. Apologies were received from the ATILRA delegation unable to fly due to travel difficulties.

The growth of dairy futures trading on the NZ stock exchange increases the risk of dairy price volatility and adds to the financialisation of the sector. The New Zealand Herald recently reported that NZX dairy futures trading has passed the 10,000 lot mark for the first time since its inception - a milestone that means the market is well on the way towards reaching critical mass, says head of derivatives Kathryn Haggard. Defining critcial mass as being 150 lots per day compared to about 130 per day at present,she said that the market has exceeded expectation.

The material builds on earlier excellent research done by the IUF Latin American region focused mainly on the Latin American dairy sector and presented at the dairy sector conference held in Buenos Aires in March 2010.

The latest research project resourced by the New Zealand Dairy Workers Union (NZDWU) is completed and covers a range of dairy companies and key dairy countries/regions as well as a global dairy industry report.

The entire research material is available in English with summaries of key issues translated into relevant IUF languages.

As a response to the New Zealand Parliamentary Commerce Committee inquiry into the price of milk, the New Zealand Dairy Workers' Union (NZDWU) reported that the benefits of the co-operative approach in dairy must not be lost.

The leadership group of the IUF's Dairy Division will meet in Hamilton New Zealand on November 16-18, 2011.

The group will assess Dairy Division progress since its creation in April 2010. It will also have the first opportunity to review the considerable amount of research that will be presented to the group and subsequently published for Dairy Division members.