These people are the definition of essential workers. They worked through the pandemic to keep Australia going. Keeping our supermarket shelves stocked, going to work to help others. And now they’ve been locked out just before Christmas due to negotiations with Coles.
About 2 years ago, workers at the Coles Smeaton Grange warehouse (a suburb near Narellan) were told that their workplace would be shut down by 2023 to make room for automation. The news was devastating to workers & their families who are now unsure about what the future holds.
This year, United Workers Union members have been negotiating a new collective agreement with Coles. Members are fighting for:
- A fair redundancy package that will compensate them for many years of hard work & recognise the difficulty in finding new work due to the pandemic;
- The right to transfer to the new automated Coles warehouse without loss of wages;
- Job security for long term casual workers who will otherwise walk away with nothing.
During the pandemic, Coles supermarket sales have soared by 6.9% & earnings have increased by 10.7%. On top of this, the Coles CEO Steven Cain’s remuneration package increased by 28.9% to more than $7 Million dollars in 2020! Now it's time for cashed up Coles to share their profits with the workers that created them!
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