Woolworths’ main distribution centers will reopen after the supermarket giant reached a deal with its workers’ union, ending a long-running strike by warehouse workers.
A group of protesters blocked access to the Dandenong center in Melbourne’s southeast on Saturday, but operations could resume within hours after the company and the union reached an agreement.
The United Workers Union denied that the picketers were affiliated to the union and later confirmed that workers at three warehouses in Victoria and one in New South Wales had voted to accept a revised offer after a 17-day strike.
The union said more than 1,500 workers and their families had given up their salaries while on strike to improve wages “to be treated like human beings, not like robots,” they said.
It also heavily criticized a ‘Woolworths framework’, an algorithmic worker performance management program which the union said monitored selection rates and put employees at risk.
After months of negotiations, the union said it had secured wage increases above the rate of inflation and that a new clause would be added to labor agreements “that ensures that workers will not be disciplined by the speed at which they can work.” .
“Today, Woolworths warehouse workers have saved Christmas,” union secretary Tim Kennedy said in a statement on Saturday.
“But most importantly, they have challenged one of the most significant threats to worker safety and well-being as we enter a new workplace era of AI surveillance… and they have won.”
Woolworths and striking warehouse workers have reached a deal to allow distribution centers to return to business just before Christmas.
Warehouse workers had organized pickets blocking temporary workers and supply trucks, effectively holding the supermarket to ransom as they could not stock shelves.
“The new enterprise agreement struck by workers breaks the link between measuring the speed of their work and automatic punishment if they fall behind, a system that effectively attempted to treat Woolworths warehouse workers like robots,” a spokesperson said.
Woolworths said its four warehouses would return to full capacity as soon as possible.
“We are pleased to have backed offers of new terms and conditions and competitive pay for our team across our four distribution centers which have been subject to an indefinite strike in recent weeks,” said chief executive Amanda Bardwell.
The supermarket giant said it was focused on moving its products out of distribution centers and replenishing empty shelves.
“Re-activating such a large part of our supply chain will mean it will take some time for our stores to look their best and we will ramp up as much as we can to get products into stores where they are.” more is needed,” said Ms. Bardwell.
More than two weeks of strike action have emptied thousands of supermarket and bottle shop shelves across Victoria, New South Wales and the ACT, and cost the supermarket chain at least $50 million.
On Friday, Woolworths celebrated a court victory, with the Fair Work Commission finding the union had been bargaining unfairly with the supermarket giant and describing protest pickets outside its distribution centers as “illegal”.