Fast food chain McDonald's New Zealand is being drawn into a more than a month-long employment row between its primary meat supplier and workers at one of the supplier's plants near Marton.
Meat processor ANZCO Foods has locked out 100 workers of their lamb processing plant on SH1, CMP Rangitikei, since October 19 because they refused to accept pay cuts of up to 20 per cent, shift changes, and reductions in allowances, saying they would strike instead.
The workers willmarch on Wednesday morning in Palmerston North, starting at Palmerston North Mediation Services and ending at McDonald's on Rangitikei Street.
ANZCO Foods, based in Christchurch, is the main supplier of burger patties for McDonald's NZ.
New Zealand Council of Trade Unions president Helen Kelly says they asked McDonald's to support the locked out CMP Rangitikei workers, but the fast food chain did nothing.
"We're publicising this to McDonald's customers and pointing out that along with the nice tasting beef burger is a bad aftertaste of poverty," Ms Kelly says.
The New Zealand Meat Workers Union and ANZCO CMP will be in mediation on Wednesday morning.
Ms Kelly will announce a nationwide fundraising day outside McDonald's on December 3 at the picket.
Britain's largest union Unite is planning actions against a supermarket directly supplied by CMP Rangitikei.
Waitrose is the the sixth biggest UK supermarket.
NZN