200300 MPW Spring 2020, Exam (Final / Deferred)
PART A ─ CASE STUDY
Union urges businesses to 'hire local' and keep regional Victoria safe from
COVID-19
Workers and unions are calling for companies to "hire local" so that urban workers do not bring
COVID-19 into regional areas as restrictions on movement ease.
Regional Victoria's case numbers of the virus are far lower than those in metropolitan
Melbourne. As a result, people in regional Victoria are now enjoying a degree of normalcy, and
people in Melbourne who are still under lockdown are being told they can only travel to regional
Victoria for work if it is deemed "essential".
Concerns about workers from near Melbourne travelling to one of regional Victoria's biggest
cities were raised by workers at major food processer McCain Foods.
The company has a large factory in Ballarat that makes frozen pizza, French fries and other pre-
prepared meals. It has about 30 workers who clean the factory, most of them locals.
But the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union (AMWU) claimed McCain had been
increasingly moving towards hiring cleaners from outside Ballarat throughout 2020.
One locally based cleaner at the factory, who did not want to be identified, told the ABC they
feared they were on the road to being outsourced, and that the company was trying to cut costs.
"I don't have an issue with where people live, although COVID-19 has exposed the risks
of excessive travel for work," the worker said.
"Employees at McCain have submitted to stringent measures to reduce the risk, and many
are unhappy about the increased risk workers travelling from hotspots bring to Ballarat."
McCain Foods confirmed some of its cleaners travelled from outside Ballarat, but maintained it
was in small numbers only. However, it would not reveal where the workers were coming from.
The company said the cleaners were legally travelling to Ballarat and were deemed essential
workers.
AMWU delegate Angela McCarthy said the argument did not hold as there were lots of locals
who could qualify for the work.
"It might be legal, but that doesn't make it right," Ms McCarthy said.
Source: Terzon, E. (2020), ‘Union Calls for Local Hiring Amid Pandemic’ [Extract only],
ABC News (Ballarat), 23 September 2020, Online: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-
09-23/union-calls-for-local-hiring-policy-amid-pandemic/12692870.
Page 1 of 1
PART A ─ CASE STUDY
Union urges businesses to 'hire local' and keep regional Victoria safe from
COVID-19
Workers and unions are calling for companies to "hire local" so that urban workers do not bring
COVID-19 into regional areas as restrictions on movement ease.
Regional Victoria's case numbers of the virus are far lower than those in metropolitan
Melbourne. As a result, people in regional Victoria are now enjoying a degree of normalcy, and
people in Melbourne who are still under lockdown are being told they can only travel to regional
Victoria for work if it is deemed "essential".
Concerns about workers from near Melbourne travelling to one of regional Victoria's biggest
cities were raised by workers at major food processer McCain Foods.
The company has a large factory in Ballarat that makes frozen pizza, French fries and other pre-
prepared meals. It has about 30 workers who clean the factory, most of them locals.
But the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union (AMWU) claimed McCain had been
increasingly moving towards hiring cleaners from outside Ballarat throughout 2020.
One locally based cleaner at the factory, who did not want to be identified, told the ABC they
feared they were on the road to being outsourced, and that the company was trying to cut costs.
"I don't have an issue with where people live, although COVID-19 has exposed the risks
of excessive travel for work," the worker said.
"Employees at McCain have submitted to stringent measures to reduce the risk, and many
are unhappy about the increased risk workers travelling from hotspots bring to Ballarat."
McCain Foods confirmed some of its cleaners travelled from outside Ballarat, but maintained it
was in small numbers only. However, it would not reveal where the workers were coming from.
The company said the cleaners were legally travelling to Ballarat and were deemed essential
workers.
AMWU delegate Angela McCarthy said the argument did not hold as there were lots of locals
who could qualify for the work.
"It might be legal, but that doesn't make it right," Ms McCarthy said.
Source: Terzon, E. (2020), ‘Union Calls for Local Hiring Amid Pandemic’ [Extract only],
ABC News (Ballarat), 23 September 2020, Online: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-
09-23/union-calls-for-local-hiring-policy-amid-pandemic/12692870.
Page 1 of 1
