Rolling ‘cost of living’ strikes threaten major brands

Up to 1200 warehouse workers are pushing for a 30pc pay rise, and union members have endorsed 24-hour strike action for up to four consecutive days.

DHL warehouse workers in Melbourne take protected industrial action.

Up to 1200 DHL warehouse workers have backed rolling 24-hour “cost of living” strikes that threaten to disrupt major brands including Nike, Mattel and Samsung.

Pushing for a 30 per cent pay rise over three years, United Workers Union members endorsed taking 24-hour strike action for up to four consecutive days if the company did not improve its current offer.

The workers at 23 DHL sites in Victoria and NSW went on strike for four hours on Monday.

The UWU said the “cost of living” industrial action could impact brands including Nike, Mattel and Samsung. The Victorian workers are seeking three annual 10 per cent pay rises and the NSW workers are pushing for seven per cent a year. DHL has offered 11 per cent over the three years plus a $750 sign on bonus and improvements in the forklift and cold work allowances.

A DHL spokesman said it was regrettable the UWU had been determined to take the protected industrial action “despite the fact that a large part of the workforce have accepted and received our offer”.

According to the company, more than 500 employees across NSW and Western Australia have accepted the pay offer.

“Over 3000 DHL team members nationally continue to service our customers while approximately 470 employees participated in protected industrial action,” the spokesman said. The union says 1200 employees took part in the action.

DHL will put the proposed enterprise agreement to workers next Monday, expressing confidence that employees would vote up the deal and receive wage increases as soon as possible.

“DHL has taken all appropriate and necessary operational contingencies to ensure service levels for our customers are maintained,” the spokesman said.

UWU national secretary Tim Kennedy said he expected workers to reject the offer based on the mood of meetings on Monday.

If it was rejected, he expected further talks in the Fair Work Commission. The union would notify the company of the planned 24 hour strikes if its offer was not lifted, with the action to kick off in about two weeks.

Mr Kennedy said the DHL workers earned about $27 an hour.

“This is a cost-of-living strike, workers at DHL sites are earning below industry standards working very hard to make ends meet,” he said.

“We all know everything is going up. Wages must keep pace. Workers want the same pay for the same work. The rate of pay for new starters can’t go backwards while the cost of living is going up.”