Take your car keys shopping with you

By
John Minto
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52
55

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Peter Talley – butcher of meat and workers

Back in the 1980s I was involved in the campaign to isolate South Africa because of its racist apartheid system. Appeals for boycotts were made as the best way for those outside the country to fight what the United Nations called a “crime against humanity”.

The sports boycott was the focus because that was where New Zealand had its most important links with South Africa. However the economic and investment boycott increased in importance on the back of the sports boycott.

Consumer products from South Africa were targeted. Companies importing South African wine were picketed and normal business disrupted while people were urged to boycott the likes of South African guavas and dried apricots.

Consumer boycotts themselves are difficult to make economically effective but coupled with a little bit of creative shopping their effect can be dramatically multiplied.

People would go into supermarkets with their car key and quietly puncture the bags of dried apricots and scratch the labels on the wine bottles to make them unsaleable. People would also take packets of dried apricots from the shelf into their supermarket trollies and deposit them at the bottom of the deep freeze under the frozen peas.

Small acts of civil disobedience like this are an appropriate response to the vicious attacks on workers’ rights mounted by the infamous Talley brothers described in this excellent blog post by Mike Treen.

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Treen describes them as “reactionary corporate murderers” and who could disagree?

And their attitudes to women? Treen’s article reports this:

The company also lost a landmark case about equal pay for women. They had refused to allow a woman to become a filleter at their plant. The response of Andrew Talley was to dismiss the decision as a joke. “In any job there are attributes that suggest it will be more likely to be done by either a man or a woman – that doesn’t mean you discriminate,” he said. “There are jobs – pole dancing being one and fish filleting being another – that have a higher predominance of either men or women. The decision is a joke.”  

What a Neanderthal! Andrew Talley is the Donald Trump of New Zealand business.

If you buy Talley’s products now – STOP – and tell your friends and family to stop too.

And if you feel as outraged as you should at this company with workers’ blood all over its hands then be prepared to take stronger action.

Products to Boycott

Marketed under

Talleys

Icecream (Crème de la Crème, Crème de la Crème Guilt free)

Peas, beans, corn, spinach, carrots, mixed vegetables

Mussels, Talleys retail bags, Ocean Royale retail bags, Oyster Bay, Scallops, Squid bait, Hoki portions AND By Products: Fish Meal, Fish Oil, Fish Fertiliser

 

Open Country

Milk Powders, Milk Proteins, Milk Fats and Cheese

 

AFFCO

Lamb, beef, veal, mutton, goat, leather, hides, pelts, calf skins, protein meals, tallow, casings, slipe wool, pharmaceutical blood serums

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52 COMMENTS

  2. good suggestions, well remember picketing Auckland liquor outlets on SA issue,

    consumers have a lot of power if they exercise it, a TALLEYBAN! is what will help get justice for the meatworkers and other people unfortunate enough to work at Talleys

    info stations outside major supermarkets calling for a TalleyBan along with “punctured peas” would soon have Countdown etc on the ph to Talley HQ

  3. Yep, I wouldn’t normally agree, but with Talleys, they are scumbags so any way to ‘send a message’ their conduct is unacceptable goes.

    Lucky their products are so crap I don’t buy any of them anyway!

  5. Small acts of civil disobedience, in other words vandalism and braking the law. You do realize that if Talley’s doesn’t make a profit it will be the workers that suffer first and the most as they will be laid off?

  6. I have been boycotting Talleys products for many years, because I have known the disgusting truth about them. Probably the worst company in New Zealand right now.

  7. Probably just taking bags/ tubs out of the freezer and leaving them to defrost around those stores that continue to stock them would be a better way to go about it. The cost and inconvenience for stops would make them increase the cost of Talley’s products even if they resorted to dumping below cost.
    There’s always the chance that this’d lead to food poisoning to those who continue to purchase their products of course… But fuck’em for the scabs that they are!

  8. A good idea John. An ex brother-in-law used to work as a safety inspector in the Tasman area and was always talking about Talley’s as being their main problem.

  10. I think it is long passed the time when we must tie in Talley’s products with “The Club”s ownership of Fonterra and Monsanto’s interference with everything in the food chain. Then all of it might carry the warning buyer beware.

  11. You can also help spread the word by signing up to the Boycott Talleys FB page and inviting your friends to do likewise! Spread the word. Only by hitting Talleys in the pocket – as they do their workers – will they see reason.

  12. SPM (South Pacific Meats) is the Talleys meat label in the South Island.

    This is what their job application to SPM says:

    *We require a clear drug test and a copy of ACC history before applicants can be considered for a position at our plant.** If you are looking to be challenged, want to join a successful, growing organisation and one of these positions interests you, please forward your CV and ACC history……”

    It is illegal to demand copies of ACC history!

  13. Probably just taking bags/ tubs out of the freezer and leaving them to defrost around those stores that continue to stock them would be a better way to go about it. The cost and inconvenience for stops would make them increase the cost of Talley’s products even if they resorted to dumping below cost.
    There’s always the chance that this’d lead to food poisoning to those who continue to purchase their products of course…

    [Tried to post this earlier on, but probably blocked due to some robust language that I’ve since excised. Of course, I might just have misread the captcha. Or if it’s in a moderation queue please delete the duplication.]

    • There’s always the chance that this’d lead to food poisoning to those who continue to purchase their products of course…

      In other words you’re ok with people committing terrorist acts.

      And it is a terrorist act because it makes people fearful that when they buy the product they might get food poisoning because of the actions of some idiot.

  14. My wife and I have boycotted Talley’s products ever since their employment contracts act inspired attacks on workers in the 1990s.

    Thanks for the update on products produced by this group. We will share our knowledge of the Talley product range with many of our friends who also boycott these bullies.

    Unsurprisingly, the Talley style of industrial relations is obviously admired by the National Party because Peter Talley was awarded a knighthood when the 2015 Queen’s Birthday honors were announced.

  15. I an trying here, seeing none of my comments seem to load under other posts now, I presume due to some technical issues. Has there been an “attack” by some enemies, who have also been frequent commenters with their right wing crap here?

    Anyway, re this post, Talley’s deserve to be boycotted until they treat their workers with more respect.

    • Jamie you need to educate yourself just a little if that isn’t too much trouble.

      Minto campaigned as did thousands of other kiwis for the vote for black people in SA now tell me Jamie is there anything wrong with that, or do you think those who are not white shouldn’t have the vote?

      Minto and others cannot be responsible for the corruption in SA politics.

      Get it, understand!

      • Don’t hear none of ya’ll denouncing the ‘corruption’ as you call it Michael

        I call it through and through terrorism

        Necklacing FFS!!!

      • Don’t hear ya’ll denouncing the ‘corruption’ as you quaintly put it Michael

        I call it through and through terrorism

        Neck-lacing FFS!!!

        • Minto has publicly criticised the ANC numerous times, do some research. It isn’t his job to make a statement every time something goes wrong. When are you going to organise a march down Queen street about the appalling treatment of any human being, let me know I will be there.

          The name is Michal.

  17. My thoughts are, that if he’s got such low morals when it comes to how he treats his workers, then he probably doesn’t care too much about what goes into his food.

  18. You just reminded me that we didn’t eat dried apricots for YEARS because they came from South Africa !!
    I had completely forgotten about that – and of course South African wines – that boycott became so entrenched that it was years after Apartheid had ended that we actually bought SA booze .

    Then there were the home made stickers we used to plaster over SA goods “Made By Racists ” and ” Boycott Apartheid South Africa ” – of course , life was easier then , cameras were uncommon

    We’ve been boycotting Talleys for a few years now and our car carries home made bumper stickers proclaiming ” We Support The TalleyBan ” .

    As for the outrage over your suggestions for civil disobedience – well, at some stage you have to stop clicking “like” and banging on about how much you hate Talleys and send a more direct message – a few ( hundred) forgetful people leaving their Talleys Ice Cream in the dog food aisle may send a stronger message than all the tweets and FB posts ever.

  22. any email addresses where one could send a little letter of displeasure and an explanation as to why someone will not buy their products?

    Also what other companies is Talleys involved with? So that essentially the same can be said to them..?

  25. someone is running an algorithm on posts they don’t like to take our votes and translate them to two opposite votes, like the voting machine on the Simpsons. For example on Minto’s comments if you vote “up” for civil disobedience, it changes your up vote to two down votes. This gives the impression that your readers think a certain way which is completely at odds with your readership and discourages sympathetic beliefs.

    Sorry but the dirty tricks have hit your great site.

  27. I’ll be making a point of specifically buying all the listed talleys products. They are the only company in New Zealand selling only nz products in their frozen foods AND when all those lovely iwi ( you know the ones that were there for their people) were operating slave vessels – and even wanted exemptions when it was outlawed to keep their slaves- well who stood alone and only employed nzers on their ships? Talleys.

  28. vandalism isn’t civil disobedience.
    If someone came to your house Martyn and trashed it, I’m sure you wouldn’t call it civil disobedience

  30. Good luck @ Martyn Bradbury . When the rats get cornered huh ?

    Ask the DC what he thinks of this link while you’re there. You know, if there’s a lull in the conversation. In here, it’s been suggested jonky’s linked to the murder of an old man to get his money. Much less , to the swindle of us, the tax payer, and Hubbards company.

    A series of unfortunate events leading up to Alan Hubbard’s untimely death .
    https://youtu.be/E9CE1a4pSeQ

  31. “Hey Minto: ANC Neck-lacing. Take 1xTire, Add 1xGas Can, Minus 1xBlack. Rinse And Repeat And Hey Presto Freedom And Democracy South African Style | r1016132nzblogger says: August 11, 2015 at 6:05 pm -”

    This comment appears to be a direct instruction to immolate to death anybody who is ‘black’.
    How do I complain to the NZPolice about this racist call to murder according to skin colour?

    NZP: You are reading this- arrest this terrorist!!!!

  33. Damn I always bought Talleys products mainly for quality and price.Now I must start over and bloody shop around .

  34. Kia ora koutou,

    Readers may notice a small change to this blog today to avoid a possible legal distraction. In the meantime get ready to give resounding support to the workers’ at Talleys as they struggle against these fraternal thugs.

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