Around 200 Woolworths workers are picketing a distribution centre in Melbourne's south-east as an industrial dispute with the supermarket continues. Woolworths is trying to reopen the distribution centre to ease a shortage of some items at its stores. The United Workers Union (UWU) has accused Woolworths of acting in bad faith by reopening the centre before a dispute meeting this morning.
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TVTranscript
00:00Around 200 United Workers Union members have been very busy guarding the three entrances
00:09here at this major warehouse for Woolworths in Dandenong South.
00:14Now this is one of the largest warehouses that is involved in this 12-day strike.
00:19There's also two other warehouses in Victoria and one in New South Wales, but these workers
00:25say that they're absolutely adamant that they are going to remain here and make sure
00:31that no one can get through.
00:34Now they've even actually put all of their cars, there's about cars three deep here,
00:39to ensure that no one can pass.
00:42Now there were some rumours earlier on today that there might be busloads of unprotected
00:47workers coming down to try to break this picket line.
00:51That hasn't yet eventuated.
00:53Some of these workers have been here since 4.30 this morning and they say no one so far
00:58has got in.
00:59Earlier on I spoke with Andy Giles, he is an organiser with the UWU, and I asked him
01:06what these workers had to say to some of those shoppers who are complaining about the fact
01:11that they cannot get certain lines because supermarket shelves are empty.
01:16Things like nappies as well as wipes and drinks and the like and toilet paper and this is
01:23what he had to say.
01:25Woolworths can fix this issue.
01:27Woolworths can have those products back on their shelf.
01:30They can have that today, but also really importantly, as with the shoppers, our members
01:35deserve to be safe at work.
01:37They deserve to work in a workplace that provides their safety first and foremost and they need
01:42to be able to go home in the same shape that they arrived to their family at the end of
01:46the day.
01:47We had heard from Woolworths that they had been intending to open this warehouse at 6
01:52o'clock this morning.
01:53That is after the SDA, another union, or the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association
02:00had endorsed a pay deal, however that has not eventuated.
02:05Woolworths says that they actually got in contact with about three quarters of the warehouse
02:10workers and an overwhelming majority, or 72% of them, said that they were very keen to
02:15get back to work and be paid in the lead up to Christmas.
02:19But the United Workers Union says that the big sticking point is the safety of the workers.
02:24They say that there is this framework, this productivity, which basically means that AI
02:29is monitoring workers here for every second of their shift, including toilet breaks, and
02:35they say that's putting undue pressure on the workers here.
02:38They're very concerned that that is when potentially accidents can happen.
02:43And we have heard that they have been in negotiations again from about 9 o'clock, hopefully after
02:49the SDA was able to broker a deal with Woolworths.
02:52We might see some movement after this very long-running 12-day strike because we have
02:58seen the impact on Woolworths supermarket shelves, so we just have to wait and see whether
03:03or not either side can come up with a breakthrough and these workers can get back to work a little
03:09later on.