Police look into toxic spill at dairy plant

Cheese falls off the end of the mellowing belt during production at the Open Country factory. File photo / Sarah Ivey

Police are investigating whether a toxic spill at a cheese factory was deliberately caused by striking workers locked out after a pay disagreement.

Environmental ponds overflowed at the Open Country cheese plant at Waharoa on Friday night and poured into the Waitoa River.

Thirty-six workers have been locked out after walking off the job on Wednesday night over a pay and contracts dispute.

The Dairy Workers Union has accused the factory of employing untrained staff, leading to the environmental damage.

But Open Country chief executive officer Mark Fankhauser said the coincidence of the incident with the strike led him to believe the spill might have been intentionally caused by a striking worker.

"My view, and clearly I'm speculating, is that I suspect it wasn't done by any people that were legitimately on site," he said.

"It is subject to investigation, but in order to do what was done it would require detailed knowledge of the particular work area."

He said the area where the spill occurred was outside the factory and was not manned at night.

"We find this hugely disappointing, as a heap of work has gone into cleaning up the environmental record at Open Country dairy."

Dairy Workers Union national secretary James Ritchie said the spill was a result of the company driving production at any cost. Any claim that the damage was deliberate was "outrageous", he said.

Talley's has brought in outsiders to maintain its output of 1.4 million litres of milk a day during the six-week lockout. The strike is taking place during the peak season for milk production.

Mr Ritchie said an act of sabotage would be impossible at a factory which had 24-hour security and CCTV cameras operating.

He said the company was trying to shift the blame for the environmental hazard, and distract from the negotiations with its workers.

"This company is showing a callous disregard for both environmental protections and the right of workers to negotiate collectively rather than on their own. They will do anything possible to prevent negotiations."

Environment Waikato group manager of resource use Chris McClay said that whether the damage was deliberate was part of his team's investigation.

He said the spill was an offence under the Resource Management Act, and if it were deemed serious enough, they would need to investigate who was liable for it.

The sludge overflow had been dealt with adequately by the company, said Mr McLay, and there was only asmall threat to aquatic life in the area.