Victorian dairy workers take protected industrial action

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Victorians are likely to experience milk shortages as dairy workers strike, calling for better wages and conditions. Reporter Natasha Schapova has more from outside the United Workers Union office in Melbourne.

Transcript

00:00 Well, milk tanker drivers stopped work in eastern Victoria at three o'clock this morning,

00:07 which could prevent milk from being picked up from farmers who supply to the process

00:11 at Saputo.

00:12 Now, on top of this, 1400 dairy factory workers are planning to strike for 48 hours from tomorrow

00:19 as well across four main processes in regional and metropolitan Melbourne.

00:24 That includes Saputo, Lactalis Australia, Fonterra and Peters Ice Cream.

00:30 And that means there'll be no processing at 14 sites across Victoria.

00:35 Now, this protected action was organised by the United Workers Union, all because of a

00:40 result of a dispute over wage and working conditions.

00:45 Factory workers are calling for wage increases of 5% per year for the next three years, as

00:50 well as more job security and for transnational processes to recognise that the Victorian

00:55 dairy industry is in crisis.

00:57 Now, back to the drivers who are striking from today.

01:00 They're under the Transport Workers Union and they're unhappy about a new enterprise

01:06 bargaining agreement and the new shift changes that are proposed there.

01:10 And they're calling for better pay.

01:12 We spoke to the Transport Workers Union's Mel Memsuleman, who says that truck drivers

01:18 are tired.

01:19 Fortunately, we've got a situation where we've got a big multinational company in Saputo

01:25 who have declared an industrial war on milk tanker drivers across Victoria.

01:32 And through that, you know, we know that we are in an industry where we've had 186 truck

01:39 related deaths just this year alone.

01:42 These truck drivers are really overworked at the moment.

01:46 They feel fatigued.

01:47 They've been doing long hours and they're exhausted and they want to lock away their

01:52 job security.

01:53 Now, the United Workers Union National Secretary says it's the biggest dairy action in living

01:59 memory and it's going to impact not just milk, but other dairy products as well.

02:03 If this strike does continue, of course, dairy products are perishable.

02:07 So we are expecting shortages in cheeses, yogurts and even ice cream.

02:12 And this has farmers, dairy farmers unhappy as well.

02:15 They can only store up to three days worth of milk supplies if these trucks aren't coming

02:21 in and picking the supplies up.

02:23 So it's likely that any excess is going to be spilled over and wasted at the farms, Karina.

02:29 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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