More than 1500 warehouse workers will stop work for 1-hour tomorrow across different shifts at three distribution centres in Victoria and one in NSW.
Workers are taking protected industrial action after negotiations for a new workplace agreement have ground to a halt in the face of the ongoing cost of living crisis, which is pushing workers to their limits.
Workers want everyone brought up to at least $38 per hour in the first year, with percentage wage increases in following years and a national agreement so that workers are paid the same pay for the same work.
Workers are calling to permanently scrap Woolworths’ “Framework”, which the union says is a high-risk management approach pushing workers to work faster, which could undermine safety in a very dangerous industry.
Comments attributable to UWU National Secretary Tim Kennedy:
“Workers all over Australia are struggling to survive in the face of more than a decade of wage stagnation compounded by ever rising prices. Wages are lower today than they were a decade ago.
“Meanwhile, big corporations like Woolworths have accrued ever increasing profits in this period contributing to growing wealth inequality in Australia. Workers at Woolworths need a proportionate wage increase to deal with the cost pressures they face.
“Woolworths workers want to be paid equally across the country. They want to be paid the same rate for doing the same work under a national agreement.
“It is crucial that Woolworths ‘Framework’ is shut down once and for all. This management approach has the potential to increase risk in an already very dangerous industry pushing people to work faster for fear of losing their jobs.
“Workers have voted in very large numbers to take indefinite strike action and will be deciding this week what their next steps will be in the lead up to Christmas if Woolworths does not come to the table with an improved offer.”
ENDS
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