GrainCorp workers to walk off the job

More than 200 GrainCorp workers are set to start industrial action in a move that will disrupt the 2024 harvest. See the latest.

GrainCorp workers will walk off the job as part of industrial action on Tuesday, bringing the 2024 harvest to a standstill.

Australian Workers Union branch secretary Tony Callinan told The Weekly Times that GrainCorp had underestimated its workers.

He said it wasn’t just the standard of pay but also the working conditions and facilities that the workers were subject to.

Mr Callinan did not doubt the farming community would see the timing as difficult given the harvest had started, but said the union had been negotiating with GrainCorp for several months.

“GrainCorp is making hundreds of millions in profit and has underestimated the workforce,” he said.

Harvest has started for 2024 in northern NSW, Queensland and Western Australia. Picture: Zoe Phillips

Despite the strong stance, Mr Callinan said there was still an opportunity for the union and the company to reach an eleventh-hour resolution.

The proposed industrial action could result in more than 200 workers starting random one-hour stoppages at grain sites on Tuesday.

The Fair Work Commission approved a protected industrial action ballot for GrainCorp workers after negotiations with GrainCorp management failed.

If GrainCorp management do not make an acceptable offer, AWU members at GrainCorp say they will be left with no alternative other than to stop work. The industrial action could escalate to indefinite stoppages and bans on unloading and loading of trucks and trains.

Mr Callinan said workers had experienced a negative pay system.

In 2021, 2022 and 2023 grain handlers received an annual increase of only 2 per cent a year, despite inflation rising at a rate of 2.86 per cent, 6.59 per cent and 4.10 per cent respectively, meaning real wages have declined by 7.5 per cent.

The union cited figures of profits for the company stating that in 2021 GrainCorp made a profit of $139 million, in 2022 of $177 million and $250 million in 2023.