Key points:
- One Victorian farmer has dumped 14,000 litres of milk due to a strike by tanker drivers
- In a separate action, 1,400 dairy workers are on strike today over pay and conditions
- Production at Saputo, Fonterra, Lactalis and Peters Ice Cream factories has been affected
Justin Johnston dumped 14,000 litres of milk — valued around $10,000 — at his Bundalaguah farm in Gippsland yesterday.
“We just think, the stupidity of it — wasting premium grade foods when people in Australia are struggling to put food on the table,” Mr Johnston said.
“It’s just money down the drain and indirectly we have to pay for it, not the milk companies.”
Yesterday Saputo milk tanker drivers from the Transport Workers’ Union went on strike across Gippsland — affecting not only Saputo suppliers but also other smaller companies that use the same truck network to pick up milk.
The drivers’ strike against Saputo is over a new enterprise bargaining agreement.
Workers are unhappy about proposed shift change notifications and changes to the time drivers start work, and they want a higher pay offer.
Mr Johnston said he got confirmation earlier this morning that drivers would pick up his milk today.
Walking off the job
In a separate industrial action, dairy factory workers have also walked off the job today.
About 1,400 staff are on strike at 14 Saputo, Fonterra, Lactalis and Peters ice cream factory sites across Victoria.
Arthur Vickery cuts and wraps cheese for Saputo’s Every Day Cheese factory at Allansford in south west Victoria.
“I spend 8 hours on the factory floor each day, Monday to Friday — the work is fine, it is a repetitive job, I’ve been doing it for 38 years,” he said.
But Mr Vickery said his wage had not increased much in the time he’d been there, and the extra cost of food and fuel was starting to hurt.
“It’s been six years since we’ve had a negotiation [and] three years ago we couldn’t meet up during COVID, so we just rolled our old [agreement] over, which was a really low percentage.
“So now … we’re fighting for a pay rise and for what we missed out on last time.
“Most of the people here live week-to-week, on the factory floor.”
United Workers Union delegate Dave Clemments has worked at Saputo’s Allansford factory for 40 years.
He said about 300 union members would be on a 48-hour strike in front of the factory from 6am this morning, in a bid for better pay and working conditions.
“We were classed as essential workers during the pandemic, so we came to work every day,” he said.
“We did our darnedest and got the product out, [while] the company made record profits.”
Mr Clemments said it had been about 18 months since the workers received a pay rise of 3.5 per cent.
“Since then, the cost of living has just skyrocketed,” he said.
He said the union members sought 15 per cent pay increase over three years.
