New Zealand Meat Processors etc IUW v Alliance Freezing Co (Southland) Ltd - [1991] 1 NZLR 143

Industrial law — Personal grievance — Employment of a seasonal character — Contractual assurance of an interpreted all year round employment — Six workers laid off — Workers took personal grievance to Labour Court claiming that contractual assurance overrode award and lay-offs affected each worker to his disadvantage — Whether when there is a true inconsistency between a contractual provision and the award the award must prevail whether the result is favourable or unfavourable to a particular worker — Whether provisions of this particular award were inconsistent with the co-existence of a contractual provision for permanent employment — Whether the employer's justification for the lay-offs must be accepted — Labour Relations Act 1987, ss 210 and 174.