Mr Lewis and six of his Blue Ribbon mates, who have fought unfair dismissal cases against the smallgoods company for nearly two years, had high hopes that yesterday might have been the day that they walked up the lane and back on to the job, just like they all had for years before they were sacked on April 2, 2003.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The full bench of the Tasmanian Supreme Court upheld unfair dismissal claims last December already passed by both the Tasmanian Industrial Commission and the Supreme Court and the company had not tried to re-appeal since then.
Senior Tasmanian judges Slicer, Evans and Crawford decided unanimously to reject Blue Ribbon's appeal against the previous two decisions that the company take the workers back and pay their legal costs.
But Mr Lewis and his mates yesterday made it no further than the office door across the lane from the smallgoods factory which has replaced what was once one of the State's biggest meatworks.
It was there they were told to wait outside while the office worker tried to find the boss - site manager Graeme Pilgrim.
As they shuffled about wondering what to do next, Australasian Meatworkers Union Tasmanian secretary Grant Courtney noticed Mr Pilgrim at the back of the building and chased after him to ask if the workers could go back to their jobs.
Despite the Supreme Court ruling, Mr Pilgrim told the workers that the matter was "unresolved" and he was disappointed that they had decided to try to resolve the case in this way.
"You could do it a little better than this. You could make an appointment and I'll talk to you on an individual basis," he said.
Nathan Long - one of the 17 workers who took unfair dismissal cases to the Industrial Commission when the entire Blue Ribbon workforce was sacked in 2002 and offered contract work instead - said that he and a colleague had tried to do that the day after the latest Supreme Court verdict.
"We asked you then when we could start and you told us to go away and that you'd contact us," Mr Long said.
Mr Pilgrim said later that the workers should be contacting the administrator for Newemploy, the employment agent that hired staff on behalf of Blue Ribbon's parent company, Victorian-based Perfect Pork, to work the Launceston plant.
Newemploy no longer exists as a company.
Blue Ribbon and Perfect Pork director Darren Vincent did not return phone calls yesterday.
Mr Courtney said that the company's treatment of its workers was outrageous.
"It's typical of the attitude of this company that the workers are told to make an appointment 23 months after being locked out even though they have been told `you can go back to work and the company will pay your costs'," he said.
Mr Courtney said that the union would seek further legal advice on the workers' behalf.
Attorney-General Judy Jackson said that she expected Blue Ribbon to comply with the Tasmanian Industrial Commission order.
Mr Lewis said that the company's reaction yesterday was like throwing a match on a bonfire.
