What:  Fonterra dairy workers take strike action amid uncertain future
Where & When: Rally:  Friday 22nd August for 1 hour stop work rallies, 2:30pm-3:30pm and 3:50pm – 4:50pm, Fonterra Bayswater: Unit 1/48 Jersey Road, Baywater VIC, 3153
Who:  United Worker Union dairy workers, United Workers Union Food and Beverage Lead Tom Czech

 

Dairy workers at a site owned by one of the world’s largest dairy companies will go on strike today after failed negotiations to improve job security and work health-and-safety allowances.

United Workers Union (UWU) members will walk off shift at 2:30pm and 3:50pm today (EDS: Friday August 22) as part of protected industrial action. With the looming sale of Fonterra Australia to French dairy giant Lactalis for an estimated $4 billion, dairy workers at the Bayswater site are taking a stand for secure jobs in the dairy industry.

United Workers Union members are pushing for a 4-year agreement to give workers stability across a period of change, an increase to the redundancy payout by 8 weeks to 60 weeks, as well as work health-and-safety improvements.

Fonterra Australia – the sixth largest dairy company in the world by revenue – is famous for brands such as Mainland cheese, Perfect Italiano cheese and Western Star butter.

To date it has refused to meet UWU members’ demands ahead of the planned sale.

“We know that with the sale of a business and the introduction of new management comes the risk of layoffs. Our members and their families deserve financial security and job certainty. It’s the least Fonterra owes them; without them they have no business to sell,” United Workers Union Food and Beverage Lead Tom Czech said today.

“The suits at the negotiating table don’t appreciate the physical toll that an honest day’s work in a dairy takes on the body. Our members are expected to handle 20kg blocks of cheese everyday without a proper lifting device. Dairy work is hard work and it’s physically taxing, this reality should be reflected in the agreement and financially compensated for.

“In addition, many of our members have been with Fonterra or its predecessors for over 30 years – to short-change them on redundancy pay after dedicating your working life to a company and helping build it into a $4 billion company, is insulting.

“Our members will be outside their workplace today, fighting for a future for our dairy industry.”