Woolworths has suspended supplies from a South Australia meatworks that was given state government approval to operate while some staff were Covid positive.
Brad Banducci, chief executive of the supermarket giant, decided to halt taking product from the Teys Australia abattoir near Naracoorte after a telephone hook-up on Sunday with Michelle O’Neil, president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions.
Banducci, along with chief reputation officer Christian Bennett and senior human rights officer Laura McManus, sought to defuse a public row over the use of Covid-infected workers at the meatworks.
The ACTU said the exemption from the SA government was apparently unique in Australia and set a dangerous precedent given the risks of affecting other staff.
Teys operated for several days after at least 140 of its nearly 400 staff tested positive for Covid, before closing on Thursday.
It resumed slaughtering cattle on Monday and its main de-boning and other meat processing will restart on Tuesday, an employee told Guardian Australia anonymously, because he was not authorised to comment publicly.
The worker, though, said they believed that Woolworths’ decision to suspend taking meat from the Naracoorte site was “a very good thing” because in their opinion the company had not taken adequate care of the safety of the plant’s workforce of 385 people.
“All of us are very worried,” the staffer said.
In a statement sent to the Guardian over the weekend, a spokesperson for Teys said “the health and safety of Teys Australia’s people always comes first”, and the company was working hard to deal with the “constantly evolving challenges of the pandemic and resulting food security”.
“In South Australia from [last] Monday, no team member on site will have tested positive within the last seven days,” the spokesperson said, adding that any staff in critical roles who tested positive were approved by SA Health to return to work if they didn’t have symptoms and had isolated for seven days.
“Contrary to misleading claims made in the public domain, no worker has been, or will be, forced to work if they are unwell,” the official said.
SA Health has been conducting the PCR testing of staff. Of those turning up to work on Monday, two of the 100-plus staff were positive, the Guardian has learned.
More of the 385 employees are due to return to work on Tuesday, with those who have isolated for at least seven days after testing positive kept about 40 metres from other employees.
However, the anonymous staffer said some people were returning to work without isolating, including at least one person who had tested positive only a day earlier, and some still had symptoms, including coughing and sore throats. Workers were also given little additional protection and used the same toilets, with Covid-positive staff identified by yellow hair nets worn over their white hard hats, he said.
Some workers had become separated from their families, with partners of meatworkers avoiding their homes in order to reduce the risk of becoming infected, the staffer said.
A Woolworths spokesperson said it had “suspended all supply through Teys’ South Australian facility while we work with Teys, SA Health and Safework SA to understand the protocols currently in place for their team and operations”.
“We were not involved in the decision approved by SA Health to introduce exceptional temporary Covid measures at the site last week,” the spokesperson said.
“We expect all of our suppliers to adhere to the Covid safety protocols set by their relevant state authorities.”
Matt Journeaux, acting federal secretary of the Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union, alleged that Teys last week “forced their workers to keep turning up for work even though they were infected with Covid” – something the company denies.
“This week, Teys is refusing to even talk to its workforce,” Journeaux said. “Workers are scared and they are worried about being forced to return to work in dangerous conditions.”
The company said only about 5-8% of its staff were unionised and that SA Health, primary industry, WorkSafe and the police were overseeing its handling of the operations.
Teys remains hopeful of winning back Woolworths’ business, which involves processing cattle supplied by the supermarket chain, “once the storm blows over”.
