Knuth slams Wilmar over stalling tactics
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Category: Industry Information
Miscellaneous information
MEMBERS NOTICE – MEDIA RELEASE
Media Release – Joyce calls for ongoing progress in sugar industry
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BDCG Bargaining Authority, Arbitration and CSA’s.
BDCG Bargaining Authority, Arbitration and CSAs.
Members are advised BDCG solicitors will be provided with a copy of growers BDCG Bargaining Authority Forms this afternoon. The procedural processes of the arbitration are about to commence but it will be some weeks until hearings occur.
From this point forward, information regarding the arbitration and negotiation with Wilmar can only be provided to those growers who have submitted signed Bargaining Authorities
A reminder to all who have signed these Authorities – if you change your position and subsequently sign Wilmar CSA and Forward Pricing Agreements, you must advise us immediately and withdraw the Bargaining Authority.
MEMBER NOTICE – BDCG Bargaining Authority Form Information
at least some of their future crops now and the only pathway available for them is with Wilmar.
KCGO determined some time ago to respect those members and their decisions and to continue to support any levy paying member with our full range of services.
If you not already done so, we would be pleased if you could return the BDCG Bargaining Authority Form by close of business tomorrow, Friday 30^th September.
(Please Print, sign and return to the KCGO office by Friday, 30th September).
Thank you.
David Rutledge (Executive Manager / Company Secretary)
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APPOINTMENT OF BARGAINING REPRESENTATIVE
BURDEKIN DISTRICT CANE GROWERS LIMITED
AND
KALAMIA CANE GROWERS ORGANISATION LIMITED
Grower details:
Trading name: _____________________________________
ABN: _____________________________________
Farm number/s: _____________________________________
Appointment of Bargaining Representative:
Pursuant to section 33(3) of the Sugar Industry Act 1999 (as amended) Burdekin District Cane Growers Limited (ACN 168 732 269) and KALAMIA CANE GROWERS ORGANISATION LIMITED (ACN 092 708 337) are appointed as the bargaining representative for the Grower (named above).
Date of Commencement of Appointment: Immediately for the 2017 season onwards
Grower/s signature: _____________________________________
Dated: _____________________________________
** Persons signing on behalf of the Grower warrant to Burdekin District Cane Growers Ltd and Kalamia Cane Growers Organisation Limited that they have the authority to act on behalf of the Grower.
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REMINDER TO MEMBERS – BDCG Authority Form to Return
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Dear Kalamia Members,
A reminder that the below form is required to be returned to the Kalamia office by Friday, 30th September.
APPOINTMENT OF BARGAINING REPRESENTATIVE
BURDEKIN DISTRICT CANE GROWERS LIMITED
AND
KALAMIA CANE GROWERS ORGANISATION LIMITED
Grower details:
Trading name: _____________________________________
ABN: _____________________________________
Farm number/s: _____________________________________
Appointment of Bargaining Representative:
Pursuant to section 33(3) of the Sugar Industry Act 1999 (as amended) Burdekin District Cane Growers Limited (ACN 168 732 269) and KALAMIA CANE GROWERS ORGANISATION LIMITED (ACN 092 708 337) are appointed as the bargaining representative for the Grower (named above).
Date of Commencement of Appointment: Immediately for the 2017 season onwards
Grower/s signature: _____________________________________
Dated: _____________________________________
** Persons signing on behalf of the Grower warrant to Burdekin District Cane Growers Ltd and Kalamia Cane Growers Organisation Limited that they have the authority to act on behalf of the Grower.
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MEMBER NOTICE – CSA UPDATE
CSA Update
Dear members,
As you are aware from emails from John Pratt and Greg Beashel, resolution of an On Sale Agreement (OSA) between them has stalled.
KCGO through BDCG is continuing in its efforts to seek agreement with Wilmar on a Cane Supply Agreement (CSA). You have seen the letter from our solicitor advising that BDCGs version of agreements does satisfy the requirements of the Real Choice in Marketing amendments to the Act and this rebuts Wilmar’s assertion that they did not.
However the advice does not conclude the Wilmar documents do not satisfy those requirements, so we do not have straightforward path to achieve our preferred outcome.
Whilst BDCG’s version of agreements provides cover for QSL in so far as setting the key terms QSL says it needs in an OSA in order to be able to offer GEI Marketing Services, Wilmar’s version specifically isolates the OSA from the CSA.
We are hoping to meet with Wilmar a few days after BDCG has presented its edited version of the Wilmar agreements back to them. That will hopefully occur as soon as we clarify a couple of matters with our solicitor.
So that leaves BDCG with 2 paths to go down, one of negotiating with a possible follow on of arbitration and legal actions, and the other to take protective action against any political push to repeal the Real Choice in Marketing legislation by conducting a media and public relations campaign to bolster support for BDCG’s position and the legislation amongst politicians.
KCGO has already invested significant sums with BDCG to get to where we are with our legal understanding and agreements, and will do so again to enable both the negotiation and the media and PR to progress to the next stage, but the Directors advise that if the next negotiation with Wilmar is not successful and the only path forward requires further KCGO to support BDCG further then a general levy will have to be struck to fund the legal and media costs in the manner Invicta (ICGO) has already done with its members.
Member Notice – A Message to Growers – Wilmar Proposal
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Dear Kalamia Members,
Please find below a message from Greg Beashel QSL CEO regarding Wilmar’s proposal.
A message to Growers – Wilmar proposal
Dear Grower,
In response to Wilmar’s communication today to growers regarding the current OSA negotiations with Wilmar, we whole-heartedly agree that it is unusual to hold negotiations via the media. That is why we were surprised that Wilmar decided to do just that last Friday without informing QSL of its apparent intention to cease negotiations. Once that had occurred, QSL considered it was important to clarify the misinformation published by Wilmar and will continue to do so given what is at stake for the Queensland sugar industry.
While QSL welcomes Wilmar’s partial disclosure today regarding their current OSA proposal, there are other unreasonable terms contained within Wilmar’s current proposal which they continue to not disclose to their growers. Unfortunately Wilmar has still not advised us directly that negotiations have ceased, nor have we called for negotiations to end, and so QSL continues to regard itself as bound by confidentiality not to disclose the full terms of what Wilmar proposed. But Wilmar has made much in its recent communications about their concession to provide a Free-In-Store (FIS) proposal to QSL, so QSL believes we should provide some context to this key issue.
Unlike standard FIS title arrangements, Wilmar’s quasi-FIS terms would have QSL pay in full and accept title for the growers’ economic interest in sugar (GEI Sugar) when it arrived at the terminal, but Wilmar would retain the control of that sugar until it was exported. In short, while QSL would own the growers’ GEI Sugar it would have no control over that sugar’s management while it is in that terminal. It’s like buying a car but being told by the salesman when and where you can drive it. We reject Wilmar’s contention that controlling sugar owned by QSL is necessary because QSL is the operator of the terminals – we have a long and successful track record of serving multiple marketers.