by Cam Lucadou-Wells
More then 200 workers at a Woolworths warehouse in Dandenong South have joined a nationwide indefinite strike on Thursday 21 November.
United Workers Union logistics director Dario Mujkic said about 220 unionised staff out of the warehouse’s 300-workforce were on strike until Woolworths reopens EA negotiations.
Three other Woolworths warehouses were hit by strike action in Victoria and NSW, with a frozen goods warehouse in west Melbourne to join the next day, 22 November.
At Dandenong South distribution centre (DC), about 2 million cartons of ambient goods are stored and distributed to supermarkets each week.
A striking worker, who didn’t wish to be named, said supermarket shelves would start becoming emptier in coming days.
Bulkier goods that are harder to store on-site would be first affected – such as toilet rolls, bottled water and soft drink.
He said workers were seeking pay rises and the scrapping of performance targets – dubbed the Framework – that he says are unsafe.
In the lead-up to Christmas, he said he was prepared to remain on strike without pay for at least two weeks.
“It’s very positive at the moment. Everyone is nervous – everyone has families to support, mortgages to pay.
“We know we have to suffer to reap the benefits.”
He said they were seeking a “living wage” – a raise from $35 an hour to $38 an hour in the next EA’s first year to keep up with cost of living.
On those figures, the proposed first-year raise would be about 8.5 per cent. However, Woolworths claims the union proposal is 14 per cent and “significantly above inflation”.
Warehouse workers also argue the Framework was a dangerous standard that would cause injuries to workers in their rush to keep up, he said.
According to the supermarket chain, the Framework was developed with “safety as an inherent component”.
“The union has asked for no measurable performance rates,” a Woolworths spokesperson said.
“Less than 2 per cent of our team have experienced coaching or retraining under the framework to improve productivity.“
UWU national secretary Tim Kennedy said workers needed a “proportionate wage increase to deal with the cost pressures they face”.
“Big corporations like Woolworths have accrued ever-increasing profits in this period contributing to growing wealth inequality in Australia.
“No one wants to see bare supermarket shelves in the lead up to Christmas. Woolworths can fix this by coming back to the table and negotiating a fair agreement.”
Kennedy said the Framework “has the potential to increase risk in an already very dangerous industry pushing people to work faster for fear of losing their jobs”.
A Woolworths spokesperson said there wasn’t expected to be “immediate impact” on stores.
“We have extensive contingency plans in place to minimise any ongoing impact to customers, including significantly increasing stock levels in stores serviced by these DCs, and utilising the other 20 DCs and 8,000 team members in our network to ensure regular deliveries to stores.
“We have already put forward several offers with competitive pay that is above industry standards, above local market rates, above inflation, and well above the Award.
“Over the past seven years, team members at these four DCs have had pay rises above inflation, and the most common earnings for full time team members is between $85,000 and $95,000.”
