Woolworths scrambles to refill shelves ahead of Christmas after reaching deal with union picketers to end strike

Major Woolworths distribution centers are set to reopen after the supermarket giant struck a deal with its union, ending a long strike by warehouse workers.

A group of picketers blocked access to the Dandenong center in Melbourne’s southeast earlier on Saturday, but operations resumed within hours after the company and the union struck a deal.

The United Workers Union denied that the picketers were unionized and later confirmed that workers at three warehouses in Victoria and one in NSW had voted to accept a revised offer after a 17-day strike.

The union said more than 1,500 workers and their families have withheld wages during their strike to improve wages “to be treated like people, not robots,” they said.

It also heavily criticized a ‘Woolworths framework’, an algorithmic program for managing employee performance that the union says controls choice rates and puts workers at risk.

After months of negotiations, the union said it had secured wage increases above the rate of inflation and that a new clause would be added to labor contracts “ensuring that employees are not disciplined because of the speed at which they can work.”

“Today, warehouse workers at Woolworths saved Christmas,” union secretary Tim Kennedy said in a statement on Saturday.

“But more importantly, they tackled one of the biggest threats to worker safety and well-being as we enter a new era of AI workplace surveillance… and they won.”

The warehouse workers had set up picket lines blocking temporary workers and restocking trucks that were essentially holding the supermarket to ransom because they couldn’t stock the shelves

“The new enterprise agreement won by the workers breaks the link between measuring the speed of their work and automatically punishing them if they fall behind – a system that effectively tried to treat Woolworths warehouse workers like robots,” a spokesperson said.

Woolworths said its four warehouses would return to full capacity as soon as possible.

“We are pleased to have approved offers for new terms and competitive pay for our team across our four distribution centres, which have been put into indefinite action in recent weeks,” chief executive Amanda Bardwell said.

The supermarket giant said it was focusing on getting its products out of distribution centers and replenishing empty shelves.

“As we turn such a large part of our supply chain ‘back on’, it will take some time for our stores to look their best and we will be ramping up as much as possible to get products to the stores where they are. most needed,” Ms. Bardwell said.

More than two weeks of industrial action have emptied thousands of shelves in supermarkets and bottle shops in Victoria, NSW and the ACT and cost the supermarket chain at least $50 million.

On Friday, Woolworths celebrated a victory in court, with the Fair Work Commission ruling that the union had negotiated unfairly with the supermarket giant and describing protest lines outside its distribution centers as ‘unlawful’.