After The Dispute
In Christchurch a small group of workers refused to go back to work the day after a settlement was reached, instead going back to work the following Monday. NDU delegate Karl Skivington told National Radio that 49 per cent of workers there voted against accepting the deal from Progressive, and that many of them were "still angry" and in no mood to rush back to work for employers who had locked them out. On 12 October The Press reported that Marty Hamnett who had been CEO of Progressive Enterprises during the dispute, was leaving his position to "return to work in Australia for family reasons" Negotiations between Progressive Enterprises employees at the Southmore Meat Processing Plant represented by The Meat Workers Union continued after a settlement was reached for the workers at distribution centers, as of 20 October union negotiators had just come out of mediation with a deal to take back to the membership to be voted on. At the end of the year, each of the workers received a $100 Christmas bonus from their union, funded from the donations that came in after the dispute ended. On 21 March 2007 Progressive Enterprises was awarded the 2006 Roger Award, an award given by the organisations Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa and GATT Watchdog for the worst transnational corporation Operating In New Zealand. A spokesperson for CAFCA and GATT Watchdog stated:
| “ | It is no surprise that Progressive won the Roger because of that 6 September national lockout of its supermarket distribution centre workers, an all-out attack on its own workers, a naked attempt to smash the unions representing them and to starve those lowpaid workers into submission. | ” |
Read more about this topic: 2006 Progressive Enterprises Dispute
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—Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)