General News
25 October, 2023
More strikes on cards at Fonterra
DAIRY workers at milk processing site – including Fonterra Cobden – will launch indefinite strikes from as early as today if their wage demands are not met.
DAIRY workers at milk processing site – including Fonterra Cobden – will launch indefinite strikes from as early as today if their wage demands are not met.
The looming strike action follows all 1400 workers endorsing further industrial action as they completed 48-hour stoppage last week in the largest dairy strike in living memory.
The threat of indefinite stoppages on top of last week’s strike adds pressure to already-stretched dairy supply chains which resulted in milk rationing imposes in some supermarkets, and tens of thousands of litres of milk dumped.
National Secretary of United Workers Union (UWU) Tim Kennedy said dairy workers have shown they are serious about “wining a pay rise that goes some way to address their soaring cost of living”.
“They are sick of the mushroom treatment from these multinational after more than six months of talks,” he said.
“In meetings with the four major processes this week workers expect fair offers to their reasonable demands of a five per cent pay increase each year for three years, and they will not put up with being short-changed.
“Dairy workers want a fair share of the profits being made by these profitable companies after accepting low wages to back their companies during the pandemic.”
More than 300 dairy workers at Saputo Allansford near Warrnambool have lodged notices allowing them to take 24-hour stoppages on Wednesday and Thursday is a satisfactory outcome is not reached.
As of Monday, those workers also intend to lodge further notices for a 24-hour stoppage on Friday, and intend to continue lodging further action on a daily basis until further notice.
A further 320 workers at Fonterra sites in Cobden, Stanhope and Darnum have endorsed taking six days of strike action – in rolling 24-hour stoppages – if there is no agreement in talks scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday.
Mr Kennedy said the unity shown by dairy workers has been “extraordinary” as they campaign for a cost-of-living wage rise and secure jobs in their communities.
“These workers and their jobs are the backbone of regional communities, and workers are taking this action so those jobs can continue into the future,” he said.
Fonterra Australia supply chain and operations director Rob Howell said Fonterra Australia continue to be focussed on negotiating with the UWU in “good faith”.
“In our last meeting on October 4 we scheduled our next negotiation meeting to take place on October 26,” he said.
“We were surprised the union chose to take industrial action when our meeting and discussions were continuing.
“We look forward to a productive discussion meeting on Thursday.”