Woolworths strike hitting fruit and veggie farmers hard

While supermarket shelves are left bare, Victorian farmers are being left in the lurch with cancelled or reduced orders as Woolworths strike action continues.

Fruit and vegetable growers are harvesting produce at a loss and having orders cut back and cancelled in the fallout from ongoing industrial action at Woolworths distribution centres.

Shelves have been stripped bare at Woolworths stores statewide as unionised workers at key distribution centres strike calling for better working conditions.

Victorian Farmers Federation president Emma Germano said growers were “totally disrupted”, and said the government needed to put in better measures to ensure industrial action did not affect essential supply chains.

“We don’t have all the ambos striking at the same time, or the police, they do action that doesn’t close stuff down. The government can’t play it both ways,” Ms Germano said.

“It affects growers because our stuff is perishable. There’s got to be better protections around industrial actions when it comes to essential goods.”

Werribee South vegetable producer Marco Mason supplies iceberg lettuce, broccoli, and fennel to customers who supply Woolworths.

Strike action at Woolworths distribution centres has left shelves bare across Victoria. Picture: NewsWire

He said orders were being changed every day, either reduced or cut back entirely.

“What Woolies is doing and these strikes is out of my hands, but it’s having an impact,” Mr Mason said.

“That’s quite annoying, we’ve already programmed the harvest for the day, sometimes it’s already harvested and at the dispatch centre, ready to go … this strike is having a massive impact on the business which affects us.”

Mr Mason said there would be ramifications along the supply chain if the dispute was ongoing.

“If I’m not going to Woolies, it’s going to the market. Woolworths, Coles, and Aldi have programmed a direct supply, and what supply they don’t take ends up on the domestic market, and when the domestic market has more than what it needs, the price comes down,” Mr Mason said.

“It happens immediately. We’ve seen a reduction in price in the past few weeks, about $2 a week.”

A Woolworths spokesperson said stores across Victoria, NSW and the ACT were experiencing limited stock on some lines due to the industrial action.

“All stores are still receiving regular deliveries of stock, in some cases at a reduced frequency. Not all stores are impacted, and the degree of stock flow challenge varies from store to store,” the spokesperson said, with contingency plans in place to minimise ongoing impact to customers.