By Madeleine Heffernan and Gemma Grant
Woolworths stores in Victoria, New South Wales and the ACT are experiencing stock shortages due to industrial action.
A Woolworths spokesperson confirmed that some stores were experiencing “limited stock flow on some lines due to industrial action in four of our distribution centres.”
Woolworths stores in Victoria, NSW and ACT are experiencing limited stock flow.
“All stores are still receiving regular deliveries of stock, in some cases at a reduced frequency. Not all stores are impacted, and the degree of stock flow challenge varies from store to store,” they said.
United Workers Union national secretary Tim Kennedy said he expected product shortages to intensify as workers at five warehouses that service Woolworths continued strike action over pay and conditions.
Kennedy said the union had been notified of nation-wide shortages of toilet paper, cereal, frozen goods, meat, water and soft drinks, long-life milk, rice and pasta, ready-made meals, cheese, yoghurt and other dairy products.
Woolworths said it understood the shortages were frustrating for customers, and it was working hard to resolve the dispute.
“We appreciate the patience of our customers and thank them for their understanding and treating our store teams with respect,” the spokesperson said.
The company said it was committed to reaching an agreement with striking workers as quickly as possible.
“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.”
Meanwhile, wild weather – warmth, humidity, rain, thunderstorms, damaging winds and hail – has punished stone fruit producers and wheat growers during harvest, but brought reprieve to livestock and citrus producers.
Clouds heading towards Victorian farmer Ryan Milgate’s lentil crop amid unusually wet and humid conditions across the state.
Victorian Farmers Federation spokesman Ryan Maloney said producers in the previously parched south-west were welcoming the wet, while farmers in the state’s west had had too much rain lately.
Maloney said citrus fruit loved this weather and livestock producers would welcome the wet, but stone-fruit farmers and grain producers were “incredibly unlucky” to have rain and humidity now.
Farmer Ryan Milgate from Minyip in the state’s north-west said the badly timed weather during harvest was “like losing a grand final by a point after the siren, after leading all year”.
“We don’t work all year to watch it disappear on the final hurdle,” he said.
Milgate said the rain would limit high-quality grains. “We’re not going to go to the supermarket and bread’s gone up $2 a loaf because we grow enough to feed ourselves comfortably. But it certainly affects what’s there to export,” he said.
Michael Crisera, of Fruit Growers Victoria, which represents producers of stone fruit, apples, pears and cherries, said the Goulburn Valley had had between 40 and 50 millimetres of rain plus hail recently.
Shepparton-based Crisera said the rain would affect fruit that’s close to maturity, and that cherries were most at risk.
Cherries might have been damaged during Victoria’s wild weather.Credit: Jacky Ghossein
“We potentially could see a shortage as we get closer to Christmas, as the season seems to be tracking a bit earlier,” he said.
“We’ll look over the next couple of days to see how much damage this rain has done.”
Cherries crack with too much rain, while apricots and peaches tend to stain.
The Bureau of Meteorology has warned stone fruit growers that rainfall and high humidity are conducive to a heavy outbreak of brown rot, which causes serious losses to the fruit.
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