Woolworths has filed an urgent application with the Fair Work Commission to stop union members from blocking access to its major distribution centre, as an ongoing dispute continues to lead to empty shelves.
Workers are again picketing a distribution center in Melbourne’s south-east as part of a dispute over pay and conditions.
The industrial action has seen shoppers encountering empty shelves in some Woolworths stores across Victoria, New South Wales and the ACT.
On Tuesday, Woolworths Group said Australian food sales had been “negatively impacted” by $50 million since the start of the industrial action, with a further impact to sales expected until the dispute is resolved.
The supermarket giant is seeking orders to stop the United Workers Union (UWU) from blocking access to its regional distribution centre in Dandenong South, along with two other sites in Victoria and one in New South Wales.
In a statement, it said the union “had refused to give any assurance of safe passage for team members seeking to return to work” at the distribution centre on Monday and Tuesday.
Instead, the UWU had blocked entry points to the site with cars and protesters, it said.
The dispute has led to shortages of a number of items, including nappies, toilet paper, bread, drinks and frozen goods at some outlets in Victoria.
The union’s national secretary, Tim Kennedy, said warehouse workers were still talking to Woolworths about resolving the current strike, which involves about 1500 staff.
“Discussions started to happen meaningfully yesterday: we expect those discussions to go on today,” he said.
“The union is here ready to reach agreement with the company when the company wants to step forward.”
Mr Kennedy said workers, who were sacrificing their wages in order to fight for safe conditions and a pay rise, were on day 13 of their strike.
“It’s not easy for a family not to have their earnings but they are resolved to look after one another.
“Woolworths can stop the wage pain for these workers, Woolworths can stop the empty shelves — it’s a decision for them.”
He said the Electrical Trades Union had donated $50,000 to the UWU’s strike fund.
Distribution centre picket hitting shelf supply, Woolworths says
About 200 people picketed the distribution centre at Dandenong South on Monday, as Woolworths attempted to reopen the site.
A spokesperson for Woolworths said the picket created an unsafe environment for team members who had shown up to work.
About 80 UWU members were picketing at the same site on Tuesday morning.
Woolworths said the pickets were responsible for about 42 per cent of the stock that was not reaching stores.
But one worker at the picket line said the union members were determined to continue industrial action.
“Pretty much haven’t been paid for 12 days, so is my wife, she’s a casual so she doesn’t get a lot of work, so yeah it’s costing a lot financially but we’re getting by,” he told ABC Radio Melbourne.
“It’s costing them more in the long run.”
Negotiations continue between Woolworths and union
Central to the UWU’s concerns is the productivity “framework” warehouse staff are subject to during shifts.
The union says the framework, which requires warehouse staff to achieve a 100 per cent performance target when picking up items at speed, is “dangerous, inhumane and unsafe”.
“The serious concerns we have are about the enforcement of these rates and speed-related performance metrics because they introduce really big safety risks,” Mr Kennedy said.
“We need safety, we need targets to be achievable, they need to be transparent and fair and they need to be sustainable.”
Woolworths disputes the UWU’s characterisation of the framework, saying it was developed “with safety as an inherent component … [and] to ensure a fair approach to operational performance”.
“The framework has been developed based on the time it should take a person with reasonable skill, applying reasonable effort, working at a safe and conscientious pace, that can be maintained for the duration of a shift, to complete a task,” a Woolworths spokesperson said.
