Woolworths has announced that there will be an indefinite lock out of 550 workers at the supermarket’s distribution centre at Warnervale until a pay and conditions dispute has been resolved.
Chief Supply Chain Officer, Paul Graham, said Woolworths had made the difficult but necessary decision after further discussions with the United Workers Union on July 30 broke down.
Workers are asking Woolworths for: wage increases that place Warnervale workers on a level playing field with Sydney distribution centres; the ratio of permanent staff be 80 percent and casual staff 20; unsafe pick rates be stopped; and, improvements to the pay classification structure.
“Woolworths put an improved and conditional offer to the union with pay increases and allowances in excess of 11 percent over the life of the three-year agreement,” Graham said.
“We also accepted six further claims from the union, including those on casual to permanent conversions and worker classifications.
“This was a show of good faith and demonstrated our desire to get our people back to work, but regrettably, the union refused to accept our offer and continued to push for a shorter deal and unsustainable pay increases out of step with economic reality.
“We want to re-open the site and get our team back to work but that won’t happen until this is resolved.
“We urge the union to reconsider their position and start putting the interests of members ahead of their own,” Graham said.
Union delegate, Brad Donnelly, said Woolworths was trying to strong arm the delegates at the negotiations by telling them to accept the offer in principle or it was off the table.
“We told them that we were not prepared to do that and instead follow the democratic process of taking the offer back to the members and asking them to vote on it,” Donnelly said.
“Workers have already moved off pay parity with Sydney colleagues a fair bit and we wanted their feedback.
“It’s not clear when negotiations will get back underway, but we are not far away from agreement.
“It’s fair and reasonable to claim parity, or close to, with city colleagues, people who are doing the same job for the same company.
“Why do they do this to regional workers?
“It is quite disappointing that Woolworths has taken this path.”
Meanwhile, employees are holding their picket line strong at Warnervale and have also taken their message to the city to hold a picket line outside head office in Sydney.
They have gained support through a GoFundMe page and more than 5,000 signatures already on an online petition.
The matter has been raised in State Parliament this week by Shadow Minister for Central Coast, David Harris, and Deputy NSW Labor Leader, Yasmin Catley.
“We aren’t worthless just because we live and work in Warnervale, we do the same work and we should be paid the same amount (as Sydney workers)”, one of the employees said.
“This is about securing a future for our families and our community.
“Some casuals here have been waiting six years for a permanent job, meanwhile, Woolies brings in people off the street and gives them a permanent role and that’s hard to watch.
“I’ve been working here for more than 10 years and I’m sick of being one of the lowest paid Woolworths warehouse workers in Australia,” the employee said.
Sue Murray