Hard-hitting video shows striking Ingham Chicken worker demanding the Australian poultry company improve wages and working conditions for factory workers – after three heirs to the empire’s fortune celebrated lavish weddings abroad.
Hundreds of workers at Ingham, which supplies chickens to supermarkets such as Aldi and Woolworths and fast food chains, went on strike in Western Australia and South Australia for 24 hours last week.
Factory workers are demanding a 6 percent pay rise and better working conditions to cope with the rising cost of living. They have threatened further rotating strikes throughout this week until their demands are met.
In a viral TikTok clip posted by the United Workers Union, disgruntled employees say the cost of living crisis has become too much for them.
“The cost of living has increased so much that people’s mortgages and weekly rents are $500,” says one worker.
“How can you live? Pay your bills, feed your children, take care of your family?
“Many of the workers here are immigrants who need to send money home to their families. We can’t afford it. We live day by day.
Guillaume Brahimi (pictured left) married Tamie Ingham in a luxurious wedding ceremony held at the opulent Rodin Museum, followed by a private reception at Maxim’s in Paris
The clip shows Ingham employees calling out the company for its alleged harsh treatment of workers.
“We are timed when we go to the toilet,” says the worker. “We are pushed to the point where our bodies hurt all day long and we can’t take care of our families.”
Inghams has more than 8,200 employees and distributes its products to supermarkets throughout Australia and New Zealand.
The strike comes weeks after siblings Ingham, Katie, Tamie and Johnny – who are not involved in day-to-day business but are heirs to the company’s historic riches – tied the knot in lavish weddings in Europe, all within a few weeks of each other.
Johnny Ingham married socialite Rey Vakili in a stunning wedding in Italy on June 30. The couple married in a ceremony in the outdoor garden of the Four Seasons hotel in the Sicilian town of Taormina.
A few weeks earlier, Tamie Ingham shared her nuptials with the famous chef Guillaume Brahimi in Paris.
The heiress, 38, and the celebrity chef, 55, tied the knot at the Rodin Museum, before heading to Maxim’s in Paris for the reception.
Workers hold a picket line outside the Inghams Bolivar factory in Adelaide’s north.
Sydney power duo Rey Vakili and Johnny Ingham officially tied the knot in June
Jessica Ingham (right) at Katie’s wedding in Tuscany
Tamie Ingham and Guillaume Brahimi surrounded by guests at a pre-wedding event in Paris
Most recently, Katie Ingham – who founded Tussle, an Australian-made plant-based lubricant – celebrated her love for long-term partner Rosenberg at a romantic wedding in Tuscany.
Ingham’s Group Limited was founded by Walter Ingham Sr. in 1918, when the family business purchased 42 acres of bushland in Liverpool, western Sydney.
The acreage was originally farmed by Walter Ingham Jr. for fruits and vegetables before the family turned to the poultry business, for which it is now famous.
Ingham’s Enterprise was passed to Walter Ingham Jr’s sons, Bob and Jack, who grew the poultry business into the largest company in Australia and New Zealand.
In 1983, the brothers were featured on the Australian Financial Review’s first-ever rich list. They reportedly have a combined wealth of $150 million.
Among Jack’s grandchildren are the sibling trio, Tamie, Johnny and Katie Ingham. Another of his grandchildren is socialite Jess Ingham.
In 2012, private equity firm TPG purchased Ingham’s Enterprises Pty. Ltd for a reported amount of $850 million.
The Ingham heirs have nothing to do with the day-to-day running of the chicken business and are simply beneficiaries of the wealth of previous generations. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Ingham Chicken for comment.
