Meet our demands and shelves will be restocked with groceries, union tells Woolies

Woolworths scrapped a plan to bus strike-breaking workers to a warehouse in Melbourne’s south-east in a bid to restock empty shelves, citing safety concerns.

The shopping giant is locked in negotiations with the United Workers Union (UWU) to try to end an almost fortnight-long standoff over pay and an “unsafe system” in which the productivity of staff is monitored.

But the union late on Monday said Woolworths’ shelves could be replenished “very quickly” if it simply addressed the legitimate concerns of staff.

Woolworths had expected most of its usual workers to return to the distribution centre at Dandenong South on Monday, after more than 1500 staff from four sites nationwide went on an indefinite strike on November 21.

The protesters – mainly from the UWU and the Victorian Socialists – have been staging a 24-hour picket line outside the facility, blocking driveways.

Stock shortages are evident among staple items such as toilet paper, cereal, frozen goods, meat and dairy. While Victorians are bearing the brunt, stores in NSW and the ACT are also affected.

Woolworth workers on a picket line outside the company’s distribution centre in Dandenong South on Monday.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui

In the early hours of Monday, Woolworths loaded a bus full of workers at an undisclosed location – but they never arrived at the Melbourne South Regional Distribution Centre.

Late on Monday, a Woolworths Group spokesperson said the company had followed the advice of Victoria Police to ensure the safety of the workers on the bus.

The UWU gave no assurance of safe passage for workers, creating an unsafe situation, the spokesperson said.

“There was no need for today’s disruption,” the Woolworths spokesperson said.

“The majority of our team at [Dandenong] want to return to work and be paid again, our customers are facing increasingly empty shelves.

“As long as [the UWU] continue to block access to our site, our customers will continue to face shortages on shelves in Victoria.”

“[Union] members at the site have every right to take industrial action, but it’s not right to stop people working who want to work.”

The retailer and union met on Monday. In an afternoon press conference, UWU national secretary Tim Kennedy said negotiations were ongoing.

“It’s our ... aim to reach an agreement as quickly as possible and have workers be able to go back to work on fair and just terms,” Kennedy said.

Empty shelves at a Woolworths Metro store in Melbourne on Sunday amid distribution centre worker strikes.Credit: April Lombardo

“Our workers don’t want to be out on strike and not being paid. They’re there to try and get an agreement.

“Woolworths can fix this by simply sitting down and listening to what the workers’ legitimate concerns are and meeting them.

“These are not radical proposals being sought. If they did that, then all warehouses open again, people are back to work, and shelves are full.”

The Dandenong South distribution centre accounts for more than 40 per cent of the four sites’ total output. The other three sites – two more in Victoria and one in NSW – also remain closed.

One worker at the Dandenong picket line on Monday told this masthead that Woolworths had repeatedly called strikers to put them “under pressure” to return.

“The thing that’s quite saddening to me is the division,” said the worker, who asked not to be named out of fear of losing her job.

“I went to watch the bus get loaded this morning, and it breaks your heart. To me, that’s not a ‘non-unionised’ person.

The strike action by workers at Woolworths’ distribution centre in Dandenong South is entering its 12th day.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui

“That’s my friend with their head down, embarrassed, because they know where they want to be, and they know what we’re fighting for. This time last week, they were here, but obviously they answered the phone.”

UWU official Andy Giles said the workers also wanted Woolworths to review a framework that included a “rate” dictating how many items they had to pick within a certain time.

If workers regularly failed to meet the pick rate, they were disciplined, he said.

“If you’re getting called in by your supervisors, and they’re telling you that you’re not doing enough, that pressure is real,” Giles said.

“People are going to take shortcuts, they’re going to cut corners, they’re going to work speeds that are not safe.

“They’ve got heavy machinery, there’s equipment, there are forklifts, there are all sorts of things. You cannot mix machines and people and put that pressure [on them].”

Woolworths said the UWU was asking for an immediate pay rise of more than 25 per cent and increases of 15 per cent in years two and three – “materially above inflation”.

The Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association last week endorsed an offer from Woolworths.

But Giles said the pay arrangements differentiated between the four distribution centres and the union wanted those paid less than $38 an hour to be bumped up to at least that rate.

Woolworths workers have been on strike for 12 days and counting.Credit: Luis Ascui

A partner distribution centre has also been on strike since November 21.

The Woolworths spokesperson apologised to customers for the grocery shortages.

Activist and Victorian Socialists federal Senate candidate Jordan van den Lamb – known as purplepingers online – issued a call-out to followers on social media on Sunday, urging them to attend Monday’s action in Dandenong South.

Party member Ryan Stanton said activists, students and trade union members were among those who turned out with the party to support Monday’s protest.

“Woolworths is one of the main drivers behind the cost-of-living crisis,” Stanton said.

“They’ve been price gouging ... but what a lot of people don’t know is that they’re also doing their best to make working lives harder for the workers who actually pick the stock that goes to the stores.”

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