More than 1,500 Woolworths warehouse workers will leave their jobs on Thursday over demands for better pay.
Customers in Victoria and New South Wales may encounter “empty shelves” during their shopping in the run-up to Christmas, as warehouse workers plan to strike at four distribution centers in an effort to win better wages and safer working conditions.
Last week, more than 1,500 members of the United Workers Union (UWU) stopped work for one hour on all shifts and agreed to go on indefinite strike at four Woolworths distribution sites for better wages, working conditions and fairness.
UWU members argued that while supermarket profits continued to rise, wages had stagnated, contributing to “growing wealth inequality” in Australia.
For this reason, the union demands an annual salary increase of between 10 and 12.5 percent.
UWU national secretary Tim Kennedy said “Woolworths workers need a proportionate pay rise to address the cost pressures they face”.
“No one wants to see empty supermarket shelves in the run-up to Christmas,” Kennedy said Thursday morning.
“Woolworths can fix this problem by coming back to the table and negotiating a fair deal.”
Customers in Victoria and New South Wales may find themselves with “empty shelves” at their store in the run-up to Christmas, as warehouse workers plan to go on strike (pictured, a Woolies in Melbourne).
More than 1,500 warehouse workers at four distribution centers will leave their jobs on Thursday over demands for better pay (pictured, a Woolworths employee in Brisbane)
The union wants Woollies to permanently remove the “framework”, which the UWU says advocates an unsustainable and unsafe management approach that pushes staff to work harder in an “already very dangerous industry… for fear of losing their jobs.” “.
The indefinite strike may affect stock levels of essential products such as toilet paper, milk, butter, toiletries and cereals.
Not only supermarkets may be affected, as one of the distribution centers also delivers alcohol to Dan Murphy’s and BWS stores.
However, a Woolworths spokesperson told NewsWire the supermarket “does not expect any immediate impact on stores in Victoria and New South Wales as a result of the industrial action”.
“Stores in other states will not be affected as they have their own local (distribution centers),” the spokesperson said.
In the run-up to the planned strike, a spokesperson for Woolworths Group supply chain Primary Connect said it had plans to support shoppers in affected stores by increasing stock levels and stepping up work at other distribution centres. to manage deliveries.
The spokesman said his top priority was maintaining supply to customers and that he was “deeply committed to reaching an agreement as quickly as possible so that (workers) can receive the benefit of their new pay rates before Christmas.”
“We have already submitted several offers with competitive salaries that are above industry standards, above local market rates and well above the premium,” the statement read.
UWU members argued that while supermarket profits continued to rise, wages had stagnated (pictured, a Woolworths in Brisbane)
‘The most common earnings for full-time team members at the four DC sites are between $85,000 and $95,000.
Our latest deals would have taken hourly rates at these sites approximately 40 to 60 percent above the storage services premium and well above inflation.’
The spokesperson said removing the framework, which “is intended to allow us to work with each team member to the best of our ability to ensure a fair approach to standards is applied in any circumstance or personal capacity” would not give the distribution center “any way to measure performance or manage productivity.