BY BRIGID ROTHERHAM
BENNEYDALE, New Zealand - In a fight to protect their land and jobs, 50 Maoris have occupied the car park at the gates of the King Country Lamb meat processing plant since the morning of December 22.
The occupiers are members of the Tiroa Trust of the Rereahu tribe, which owns the land on which the factory stands. Most are also workers at the plant who are concerned about their jobs since the plant went into receivership on December 14.
Before the plant opened in 1992, there was little employment in the area. Many lost their jobs due to cutbacks in forestry work and the closure of a small coal mine. King Country Lamb employed more than 170 workers at the height of the season from the small North Island farming towns of Benneydale, Mangakino, and Te Kuiti. The majority were young Maoris.
Workers explained in interviews that in 1994, under the threat of closure, they accepted a 19 percent pay cut and a 15 percent increase in productivity.
The company told workers in mid-October that the plant was closing for two weeks' maintenance, but it has remained shut since. Some of those laid off are still not entitled to receive unemployment benefits. Others had taken out mortgages on houses, believing their jobs were secure.
The occupiers are worried that a new owner will move the factory out of the area or impose new conditions on the workforce. The workers, all members of the Meat Workers Union, want their union recognized by whoever takes over.
"The main issue is the land," said Tui Barlow, the union delegate of the boning room. "That belongs to the Rereahu people and we should be consulted about what happens. We want to have a say in who buys the plant and what they do with it." Hand-painted signs in Maori attached to the gate beside the occupiers' caravans stress this demand. They read "Nga Whenua o Rereahu" (Rereahu's lands).
The Tiroa Trust is owed money in back rent by King Country Lamb and is unhappy with the location of the plant's two oxidation ponds, which were built on sacred land. One trustee, Hardie Peni, told the New Zealand Herald that the protest "is also an action about spiritual values. "
The Tiroa Trust says it wants to buy the plant, and is negotiating with the receivers.
Brigid Rotherham is a member of the Meat Workers Union in Auckland, New Zealand.