Aldi’s long history of non-union pay deals has been disrupted after workers rejected the supermarket giant’s offer for the first time in decades and as the company is fending off legal action for allegedly undermining the government’s labour hire laws.

Hundreds of workers voted “no” this week in a ballot for Aldi’s proposed enterprise agreement in South Australia following a Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association’s (SDA) campaign against the deal across the state’s 50 stores.