Woolworths makes Fair Work bid to bust picket costing $50m
Woolworths is urgently seeking Fair Work Commission orders to clear a picket outside a key distribution centre as the supermarket giant said the 12-day strike by the United Workers Union has cost the company an estimated $50 million in lost food sales.
Woolworths had originally insisted it had adequate contingency plans to cope with the industrial action but its shelves have become increasingly bare as warehouse workers approach almost two weeks of indefinite strike action.
The company announced the FWC application after failing to reopen its Melbourne South Regional Distribution Centre on Monday.
UWU members have blocked the site entry points with cars and protesters, with the company blaming the union for creating an unsafe environment for employees.
Woolworths said it was seeking FWC orders to prevent the UWU from blocking access to the Melbourne South Regional Distribution Centre and three other sites. It alleges the union has beached the good faith bargaining requirements in the Fair Work Act.
Woolworths workers at Dandenong South. Picture: NewsWire/ David Crosling
In a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange, the company said some Woolworths supermarkets in Victoria, ACT and NSW were “experiencing stock flow limitations on some lines, impacting product availability of ambient, chilled and freezer lines for customers”.
“Since the start of the industrial action, Australian food sales have been negatively impacted by approximately $50 million to date,” it said.
Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox accused the union of holding families to ransom.
“This is a highly cynical and irresponsible dispute orchestrated to cause maximum damage and disruption at the worst possible time,” he said.
“The dispute is a sad reminder for Australians of the self-interested industrial chaos unions used to visit on Australians in the 1970s.”
Supermarket shelves are looking empty as the indefinite industrial action in four distribution centres takes its toll. Picture: Facebook
The union is pushing for Woolworths Group’s supply chain arm, Primary Connect, to scrap its Coaching and Productivity Framework, saying it used engineered standards to discipline or even fire people for not meeting company-stipulated speeds of working.
While workers at the four centres are pursuing “cost-of-living wage increases” ranging from 10 per cent to 12.5 per cent annually, UWU national secretary Tim Kennedy has signalled they were prepared to consider smaller pay rises provided they were above the inflation rate.
Mr Kennedy said on Tuesday that negotiations were continuing.
“In terms of shortages on shelves and Woolworths’ statements about the impact of the strike, we have consistently said that Woolworths is in a position to end this strike right now by agreeing to a reasonable outcome with workers – and they should do so today,” he said.
“Business groups may well come out and support the dangerous, inhumane and unsafe productivity framework but you can bet they are not being marked out of 100 in real time every time they perform a task.”