Alden Williams/Stuff
Gloriavale’s Canaan Farming Dairy Ltd has been granted a High Court injunction which forces Westland Dairy Company to continue taking milk from Gloriavale’s dairy farms. (File photo)
The High Court has ordered Westland Dairy Company to continue collecting milk from the farms owned by the Gloriavale Christian community.
Westland announced earlier this year it would cease taking Gloriavale milk following an Employment Court ruling that several of the Christian community’s businesses used child labour and treated workers as volunteers when they were employees entitled to be paid minimum wage.
This led to Gloriavale’s Canaan Farming Dairy Ltd seeking a High Court injunction that would force Westland to continue collecting the milk.
In a decision publicly released on Tuesday, Justice Jan-Marie Doogue ordered that Westland continued to collect the milk supply from Canaan’s farms Bell Hill, Gloriavale and Glen Hopeful “subject to the condition that Canaan not employ any minors or associate partners under the age of 18 on its farms”.
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“There is no evidence before the Court to establish that at the time the injunction was sought Canaan was currently in breach of its obligations as an employer,” she said.
During an earlier court hearing, Gloriavale’s solicitor Richard Raymond KC argued the farms were completely separate from the businesses related to the Employment Court ruling.
Any suggestion Gloriavale’s farms were not adhering to employment law was “knee-jerk, hyped up nonsense”, he said, and Westland had “completely overplayed the issues”.
Trying to lump the farms in with Gloriavale’s other businesses and tar them with the same brush was “disingenous”, Raymond submitted.
STUFF
Gloriavale leaders are under growing pressure as more of their businesses suffer the consequences of bad publicity about working conditions.
In response, Westland’s lawyer, James Craig, said the Employment Court ruling was directly relevant to Gloriavale’s farms, as workers would often rotate their duties between the farms and the businesses in question under an associate partnership programme set up by Gloriavale.
Several of Westland’s commercial customers had expressed “major concerns over issues of compliance of New Zealand employment law” at Gloriavale, Craig said.
Westland was therefore entitled to take steps to mitigate damage to its reputation and revenue, he said.
The contract between Canaan and Westland states all of Canaan’s milk will be collected by Westland for a 10-year period from the nominated start date, providing the terms are complied with throughout.
Andy Jackson/Stuff
If the contract between Canaan and Westland was to be completely terminated, the loss of income for Gloriavale could be up to $9 million annually according to seasonal forecasts. (File photo)
If the contract was to be completely terminated, the loss of income for Gloriavale could be up to $9 million annually according to seasonal forecasts.
In her decision, Justice Jan-Marie Doogue said the injunction will not require Westland to do anything new. “It will simply require it to observe the status quo which has been in existence for some 30 years.”
Gloriavale’s practises are currently before the Employment Court yet again with six former Gloriavale members arguing they should have been recognised as employees, not volunteers for the domestic work they did for years at the religious sect. The case is set to continue in February next year.
