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SPC Ardmona has hit back at claims by the Prime Minister that its business troubles are due to "extraordinary" workplace conditions, saying the statements are "mistaken and need to be refuted by the facts".

Last week Tony Abbott announced a Cabinet decision to knock back a request from the northern Victorian food processer for $25 million in taxpayer assistance to upgrade its Shepparton plant.

He said the company needed to renegotiate workplace conditions which were "way in excess of the award" and "extraordinary".

The statements prompted local Liberal MP Sharman Stone to accuse Mr Abbott of "lying" about the generosity of SPC's enterprise bargaining agreement.

Treasurer Joe Hockey has also described the agreement as "astounding", and Employment Minister Eric Abetz said it was "over-generous".

But SPC managing director Peter Kelly has released a two-page statement setting out "claims" versus "facts".

In it Mr Kelly emphasises that SPC has been "assessing work practices for many months and have made significant improvements in productivity".

Among the claims SPC is seeking to refute is that allowances are "over-generous".

SPC Ardmona Worker allowances at SPC Ardmona Claim: SPC Ardmona employees get "over-generous" allowances.

Fact: The total allowances paid to SPC production staff in 2013 was $116,467, less than 0.1 per cent of the business's cost of goods for the year.

Claim: There is a generous "wet" allowance of 58 cents per hour for cleaners

Fact: Zero ($0.00) paid in 2013.

Claim: SPC Ardmona employees get nine weeks paid leave a year.

Fact: SPCA employees get 20 days annual leave.

Claim: A five-day Melbourne Cup long weekend.

Fact: Production staff accrue rostered days off (RDOs) during the year which SPCA requires them not to take during the peak season. Instead these RDOs are taken at the start of November, the optimum time for a plant shutdown to allow maintenance in preparation for the canning season from December to April. RDOs are not additional leave.

Claim: Sick leave is cashed out each year.

Fact: This was removed from the EBA in 2012. Claim: Loading, or shift penalties are above the award.

Fact: SPC Ardmona penalties are the same as industry standards and common to many Australian EBAs. Afternoon shift is at 20 per cent and night shift at 30 per cent. Claim: Loadings on top of overtime.

Fact: Production workers do almost zero overtime.

Claim: Redundancy is in excess of the award.

Fact: This old condition was reduced in 2012 to a 52-week cap. - Source: SPC Ardmona's managing director Peter Kelly.

"The total cost of allowances for all production staff at SPC Ardmona for the entire year of 2013 was $116,467, which represents less than 0.1 per cent of the business's cost of goods for the year," the statement said.

SPC says its staff get only 20 days' annual leave a year, not nine weeks as had been alleged in some media reports, and that loading and shift penalties are paid at industry standard.

Mr Kelly says the major culprit behind SPC's difficulties is the sustained high Australian dollar, which has led to a flood of cheap imported canned fruit and a "decimation" of the company's export markets.

"The serious problems that have beset SPCA have not been because of labour costs and certainly not from the allowances, a fact borne out by the Productivity Commission's recent analysis," he said.

"The business has been severely damaged in recent times by a perfect storm created by external economic factors."

Steve Dargaval, Victorian state secretary with the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, feels vindicated by the release of workers' employment conditions.

"It's quite right for SPC to put out a statement dispelling some of the untruths that a number of senior Coalition ministers have been putting out about workers," he said.

"It's outrageous that Federal Government ministers have been out and about lying about workers' conditions and trying to blame workers for the consequences of the Government's own decisions."

He says it is unusual for a union to get such a strong backing from an employer.

Stone accuses Abbott, Hockey of lying

The claims about wages and conditions from the Government's most senior ranks prompted a startling outburst from Dr Stone, whose electorate of Murray includes the Shepparton factory.

She told ABC Rural that the Prime Minister and Treasurer were "lying" to justify the Cabinet decision.

"It's not the truth. That's right, it's lying," she said.

Video expired Mon 5 May 2014, 1:00am AEST

"The independent panel, their own independent panel, I understand recommended that this industry be supported."

Tuesday morning on AM, Dr Stone was pressed on her use of the word "lying", and whether she believed Senator Abetz's statement about workers' allowances also represented a lie.

"Well, you could use that word if you like," she said.

Dr Stone later added that "it is a complete furphy what is being said about the troubles of this last fruit-preserving industry".

The Prime Minister's office has declined an ABC request for comment, and Mr Hockey's office has not yet responded.

Finance Minister Matthias Cormann insists all of the Government's statements have been based on facts.

"Sharman Stone is a passionate local member who is standing up for her community and making the argument as best she can from her point of view," he said.

"All I can say is the Government had before it all of the facts. The Prime Minister and others ministers who spoke about the decision we made presented the facts as they were before us."

Coalition frontbencher Kevin Andrews has put down Dr Stone's accusation to a "misunderstanding".

"Dr Stone is a local member representing her constituents," he said.

"Sometimes there may be misunderstandings of what the facts actually are, but I'm confident that what the Prime Minister said was accurate."

Worker says $45k a year is fair for conditions in factory

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has praised Dr Stone for being "willing to tell the truth and call out Tony Abbott and Eric Abetz".

"Their claims are a disgrace and an absolute insult to workers," he said in a statement.

Worker Sarah Ross-Edwards says employees are paid fairly to work in hot conditions in a factory that is not air-conditioned.

"Mr Abbott has got it wrong, we're on the proximity of $45,000 a year," she said.

"Of course, in the summer time when there is extra work, we work it, and we get paid accordingly for that."

Once again, an election could decide the fate of the food processor.

The Victorian Opposition has committed $30 million for SPC Ardmona, should it win the November state election.