Esther Ashby-Coventry/Stuff
Clandeboye Fonterra dairy processing plant employee Lorraine Pike holds a placard at the protest against a proposed vaccine mandate.
Dairy processing workers at Fonterra’s Clandeboye plant have protested against the company’s proposed vaccine mandate outside the factory near Temuka.
About 40 protesters stood with placards and posters along the entrance road leading into the factory on Wednesday afternoon. About half were members of the activist group Voices for Freedom who were supporting the workers.
The proposal for a vaccine mandate policy for Fonterra workers was open for consultation in December 2021 after a risk assessment was undertaken. The decision on the proposal has not been made yet as feedback is still being analysed but if it goes ahead it will be from March 1.
Fonterra employee Ben Thomas said he was protesting because if he was not fully vaccinated he would likely lose his job and he did not think that was fair.
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“We are waiting for the final verdict.”
He said he had never had any vaccinations including childhood immunisations and did not believe the Covid-19 vaccination had been fully tested.
“I spoke to my doctor and she was not one for it and thinks your own body can fight the virus. I should have a choice of what I put in my body,” Thomas said in declining to name the doctor.
Esther Ashby-Coventry/Stuff
Fonterra workers at the Clandeboye dairy processing plant protest against the company’s proposed vaccine mandate on Wednesday afternoon.
Fellow employee and protester Lorraine Pike said Fonterra was big on anti-bullying so she was surprised they were putting pressure on staff.
“It’s a great place to work and they’re so strong on health and safety. They look after their people so it (mandate) is surprising and disappointing.”
Fonterra worker of three years Chris Howey said he thought the vaccination was a “bloody poison”.
“The jabs are not going to stop, they’ll be every four months or so, it’s ridiculous,” he claimed.
Esther Ashby-Coventry/Stuff
Fonterra workers at Clandeboye dairy processing plant Gail Lawson, left and Shirley Gould, protest the company’s proposed vaccine mandate on Wednesday afternoon.
Stuart Laing who has worked for the company for 31 years claimed there was no long term safety data on the vaccine.
“Auckland was locked down, more than 90 per cent were double jabbed, it is new technology but if it was old technology they would have been able to circulate.”
He said he would be unhappy to lose his job but had an issue with the lack of informed consent.
“This is coercion.”
Esther Ashby-Coventry/Stuff
Fonterra Clandeboye Dairy Processing plant employee Chris Howey, second from right stands with Voice for Freedom members and independent Ashburton anti-vax activist Jane Slaven, fourth from left at the protest against a proposed vaccine mandate on Wednesday.
Another, who did not want to be named, said the employees were good enough to work through lockdowns and they were not vaxxed but were now being dropped like “hot spuds”.
“It feels like a kick in the guts especially when you have dependants.”
Employee and protester Steve Tucker said it was important to stand up for what people believed to be true and claimed the mandate proposal was based on flawed assumptions of an uncontrolled situation. He said during the lockdowns everyone had extra PPE and anyone entering the site had to have their temperature monitored he did not see why that could not continue.
“It’s (mandate) causing segregation and division. It’s undermining people’s rights to bodily autonomy.”
Esther Ashby-Coventry/Stuff
Bruce Mitchell of Voices for Freedom supports the protest against Fonterra’s proposed vaccine mandate outside the Clandeboye factory.
Fonterra director NZ Manufacturing Alan Van Der Nagel said they had been consulting employees on the proposal to require all roles in New Zealand to be carried out by people who are fully vaccinated.
He said the consultation period ended on December 27, 2021.
“We are now working through the feedback submitted during the consultation period. No decisions on the proposal have been made.”
Van Der Nagel confirmed if the policy was introduced it would be implemented from March 1, 2022.
“All roles across all Fonterra’s New Zealand sites would need to be performed by a vaccinated person.”
The Dairy Workers Union was contacted for comment.
