Coles works to restock Vic shelves

Steep losses to farmers are feared after a picket line disrupted Coles’ supply chain.

A Coles spokesman said some deliveries had been disrupted due to the union action.

Victorian Coles supermarket staff are working hard to restock shelves after strikes affected food deliveries.

More than 600 Polar Fresh workers set up a picket line outside their company’s Truganina warehouse, affecting Coles’ fruit and vegetable supply chain.

The National Union of Workers is negotiating a pay deal with the company, calling for more permanent jobs and a $3-an-hour pay rise. Coles claims cold-storage workers were stopping trucks from delivering produce to warehouses and went to court to stop the picketing action.

Werribee farmer John Said says the supermarket giant wasn’t the only one affected by the strike action and Victorian farmers could lose hundreds of thousands of dollars because truckloads of produce were being turned away.

“The whole supply chain has ground to a halt. We’ve had to stop harvesting and to send workers home,” Mr Said told AAP on Friday. “It’s an ongoing nightmare and could take another three to four days to get back up and running once it’s all sorted.”

The strike began on Tuesday but on Friday union spokeswoman Emma Kerin said negotiations were getting very close to mutual compromise.

Eight hours of negotiations on Thursday weren’t enough to reach a conclusion.

She said strike action could continue over the weekend if a deal was not reached late on Friday evening.

Coles and Polar Fresh went to the Supreme Court this week, with Justice Michael McDonald ordering the workers to stop the picket action by midday Thursday at the latest, and the matter be revisited on Monday.

A Coles spokesman said some deliveries had been disrupted due to the union action but deliveries were starting to flow through to stores again thanks to an injunction stopping picketing at contingency sites.

“We are working hard to ensure all products are on shelf as soon as possible,” the spokesman said.

A peaceful protest at the Polar Fresh site continues, with workers taking shifts to man the closed site.

Tents, caravans and a kitchen have been set up to keep workers comfortable during the night hours.

“The vibe down there is pretty peaceful and very community based,” Ms Kerin said.

AAP