Statement attributable to United Workers Union National Dairy Co-ordinator Neil Smith:
More than 260 United Workers Union members are deeply shocked at Bega’s decision yesterday to close the manufacturing facility at Strathmerton in regional Victoria. This number grows to well over 300 when you consider maintenance, security, canteen and salary staff.
Bega Strathmerton is the biggest United Workers Union dairy site in the country. If this closure goes ahead it will have a devastating impact on families throughout the whole region. Workers come from Strathmerton, Cobram, Yarrawonga, Numurkah, Shepperton, Katunga, Echuca and other towns throughout the region.
The dairy industry is the lifeblood of small local communities like Strathmerton, which has a population of about 1100 people, and the proposed closure will send a shockwave throughout the region.
In the latest enterprise bargaining agreement negotiations, workers won a community consultation clause.
So far the company has not kept their end of the bargain and the Union expects genuine consultation with the Strathmerton community to occur in good faith.
Bega’s board has questions to answer for the local school teacher, the small business owner and the businesses that operate around the factory to keep it running.
For workers to see their years of devoted service boiled down to a redundancy figure means there will be a lot of very hard kitchen-table conversations over the coming days and weeks.
The money doesn’t add up. Why spend $40 million on redundancies that hurt 300 families in and around Strathmerton, to then have to spend another $50 millon to upgrade the Bega site in Bega to do the work that is currently being done in Strathmerton?
Bega needs to stick to the agreement and engage in genuine consultation with workers and the community. And if there is an ability to keep Strathmerton operating as a viable dairy plant, then Bega should be open to that.
The Union is on site to assist members today and will be communicating directly today and across coming days to support workers and their families and plan next steps.