Despite one of the best grain harvest seasons in years starting in northern New South Wales, hundreds of grain handlers are threatening to walk off the job over a pay dispute. Talks are taking place between the union and the east coast's largest grain handler, GrainCorp to stave off the threat.
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00:00Well, across northern New South Wales, the winter crop is looking a pitcher.
00:06Farmers are excited to get the grain into the silos and off to port, but there have been
00:11of course a few challenges thanks to Mother Nature.
00:13Some late storms across the north-west have impacted some properties, but hopefully it's
00:18just a small percentage and the cracking crops around it will hopefully compensate and offset
00:23any losses.
00:24Unfortunately, it's not as good news for southern New South Wales, where growers there into
00:28western Victoria and South Australia are facing losses.
00:32We understand across those three states it could be up to a million tonnes of wheat lost
00:36after late frosts in September.
00:38Some places saw five consecutive days of frost, having a significant impact on grain down
00:43that way.
00:44Across the country though, Australia is looking to bring in over 47 million tonnes of grain
00:48and oil seed this season, and northern New South Wales certainly doing the heavy lifting
00:53in that part of the world.
00:54Things are looking wonderful here.
00:55To Queensland, half the crop has already come off there as well.
00:59But in New South Wales, we do expect today that GrainCorp, the east coast's largest grain
01:04handling service, will be meeting with the Australian Workers' Union to try and flesh
01:08out a final deal on pay negotiations that have been underway.
01:12GrainCorp is offering a 14% rise, the union is asking for 15% to match their colleagues
01:17in Queensland, but if that deal can't be reached at the latest meeting today, we understand
01:23that the Workers' Union, 200 of its members, will be taking strike action from GrainCorp
01:27facilities across New South Wales, and that will be in the form of one hour random stoppages
01:32and they could start from as early as Tuesday if a deal isn't reached today.