Supermarket giant Woolworths has issued a major update amid ongoing strikes that have left customers facing empty shelves.
Supermarket giant Woolworths has reached an agreement with striking union workers at four distribution centres in Victoria and New South Wales.
The $37 billion giant confirmed in a statement on Saturday afternoon that its distribution centre in Melbourne’s south would reopen as early as Saturday evening after reaching a new enterprise agreement with the National Union of Workers and the Store, Distributive and Allied Employees Association.
The company’s Melbourne Liquor Distribution Centre, Wodonga Regional Distribution Centre and Erskine Park Distribution Centre are also expected to reopen after 17 days of strike action.
The strike left some supermarket shelves empty in Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales.
A strike broke out at a Woolworths distribution centre in November. Image: NewsWire/David Crosling
Woolworths chief executive Amanda Bardwell said the company was currently focused on removing product from centres and restocking them.
“We again apologise to our customers. We understand how frustrating it can be to shop in our stores
“We’ve had online communications with people in Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and parts of New South Wales in recent weeks,” she said on Saturday afternoon.
“We sincerely thank them all for their understanding and patience.
“We would also like to thank all the teams across the Woolworths Group who are working tirelessly to minimise disruption and look after our customers.
“We are particularly grateful to the teams at the unaffected distribution centers who helped maintain supply levels during the closure of all four distribution centers.”
In evidence given to the Fair Work Commission, Woolworths said about 40 per cent of delivery capacity across four centres was affected, amounting to an estimated two million cartons.
The company also claims it has lost about $50 million in sales since the strike began.
The strike action has led to reduced stock levels in some supermarkets in Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales. Image source: NewsWire
About 1500 workers walked out of the hubs after negotiations between the UWU and Woolworths failed.
In addition to the standard pay dispute, the UWU has also expressed anger at how the company measures the performance of centre workers.
Picketing workers held signs that read: “We are not robots!”
The United Workers union said in a statement on Saturday that it had won concessions on performance targets.
“This week, in negotiations with the company, Woolworths finally made substantial progress on its framework agreement by adding a new clause to the workplace agreement that ensures workers are not penalised for working too quickly and recognises that not everyone can complete 100 per cent of their work,” the union said.
“The new enterprise agreement the workers won breaks the link between measuring how fast they work and automatically penalising them if they fall behind – a system that effectively seeks to treat Woolworths warehouse workers like robots.”
UWU national secretary Tim Kennedy said the union was committed to protecting workers’ wellbeing in the age of “AI surveillance.
UWU National Secretary Tim Kennedy holds a press conference at a workers picket line on December 3, 2024. Image source: NewsWire/David Crosling
He said: “Today, Woolworths warehouse workers saved Christmas, but more importantly, they challenged one of the most significant threats to worker safety and wellbeing as we enter a new era of AI-controlled work.
“It has been a hard-fought battle to get to this point, with workers giving up their wages and striking for 17 days in solidarity against a punitive performance management system,” Woolworths called it “framework.
“This controversy is important because it concerns workers’ rights to participate in decisions about how AI algorithmic systems are used to set the pace of work, monitor people at work, and ensure that the systems are transparent, fair, and respectful of people’s basic humanity.
“Breaking the link between measuring workers’ speed and automatically penalizing them when they fall behind is a major achievement for workers, and a sign that they will have the power to decide how work is regulated as we move from the industrial age to the digital age of artificial intelligence.”
Woolworths said the UWU was also demanding a 25 per cent wage increase over three years.
The final agreement with workers includes a 12.84 percent wage increase over three years, as well as a $1,000 cash advance, increased weekend overtime pay for shift workers, a $500 gift card upfront and a $500 gift card over the next two years, the SDA said in a statement to NewsWire.