Union threatens ‘bare shelves’ at Woolworths in Christmas lead-up

The United Workers Union is demanding the supermarket giant increase its pay offer to hundreds of warehouse workers.

The United Workers Union says strike action this week will impact supplies to Woolworths. Picture: James Gourley/Getty Images

The United Workers Union has warned of “bare shelves” at Woolworths’ stores in the lead-up to Christmas unless the supermarket giant increases its pay offer to hundreds of warehouse workers.

The workers have given notice of indefinite strike action from Thursday at four Woolworths distribution centres in Victoria and NSW, including the Melbourne liquor centre that supplies alcohol to Dan Murphy’s and BWS outlets.

Workers at Lineage Cold Storage in Victoria, whose Laverton site also supplies Woolworths, have voted to take action from Friday.

UWU national secretary Tim Kennedy said the strikes would have a “big impact” on Woolworths’ supply chain.

“Workers are caught in a deepening cost-of-living crisis after decades of wage stagnation and rising housing, medical, petrol and food costs,” he said.

“All the while, Woolworths have seen profits grow and grow, squeezing customers and putting more pressure on families.

“If Woolworths doesn’t come back to the table to negotiate a fair outcome, its customers will start to see bare shelves in the lead-up to Christmas. No one wants this. Woolworths can fix it.”

Woolworths Group’s supply chain arm, Primary Connect, said on Monday “maintaining supply for customers is our priority in the lead-up to Christmas”.

“We have extensive contingency plans in place to minimise impact to customers, including significantly increasing stock levels in potentially impacted stores, and utilising the other 20 distribution centres and 8000 team members in our network to ensure regular deliveries to stores,” a spokeswoman said.

She said the company was “deeply committed to reaching an agreement as quickly as possible so they can receive the benefit of their new pay rates before Christmas”.

While workers at the four centres are pursuing “cost-of-living wage increases” ranging from 10 per cent to 12.5 per cent annually, Mr Kennedy signalled they were prepared to consider smaller pay rises provided they were above the inflation rate.

Primary Connect has offered pay rises of 10 per cent over three years to workers at the Melbourne South Regional distribution centre; 12.1 per cent over four years to Melbourne liquor centre workers, 7.1 per cent over two years to Wodonga centre workers and 12.05 per cent over three years to workers at the Erskine Park centre in NSW.

The union said the company had not moved on its offer since the industrial action was formally notified.

United Workers Union national secretary Tim Kennedy. Picture: Facebook

Mr Kennedy reiterated that agreement could not be reached unless Primary Connect scrapped its Coaching and Productivity Framework, which the union said used engineered standards to discipline or even fire people for not meeting company-stipulated speeds of working.

“Workers at Woolworths are fighting to be treated as human beings – not units of operation – and go home safe and well to their families at the end of a shift,” he said.

“If Woolworths does not scrap their ‘Framework’ a very bad precedent will be set for how workers are treated and valued in this country.”

The Dan Murphy’s and BWS outlets are owned by the Endeavour Group, which also owns a network of 350 pubs after its spin-off from Woolworths in June 2021.

An Endeavour Group spokeswoman reiterated on Monday the company wanted to “reassure our customers that we do not foresee any major impacts to stock availability in stores over the festive season”.

“We are committed to ensuring our customers have access to the products they love over the busy festive period ahead,” she said.