A lockout of Somerton warehouse workers by the Super A-Mart company has dragged through a second week, with negotiations over a pay rise bogged down in legal action.
The company gained Supreme Court injunctions to prevent workers from returning to work and stopping them and families and friends from protesting outside.
The assistant secretary of the Victorian branch of the National Union of Workers, Gary Maas, said negotiations on wages and workplace safety issues had gone on for months before workers staged the 24-hour stopwork which led to the lockout.
“The company went to the highest court in Victoria,” Mr Maas said.
“Super A-Mart has spent more stopping workers [from protesting] than on giving them a very small pay rise.”
About 35 of the 40 permanent warehouse workers have been locked out for two weeks, although they have halved their initial demand for a $4-an-hour pay rise over four years to $2.
The company is using casual labour to do their work, the union said.
Super A-Mart workers are paid about $20 an hour, which the NUW said was below the industry standard of $24-25/hour.
“Make no bones about it, workers are being paid poverty wages,” he said.
Last Tuesday, the Super A-Mart warehouse workers took their protest to the doorstep of WorkSafe Victoria, which the union named as among a number of high-profile corporations to invest in the private equity consortium.
“Through the investment firm Quadrant, WorkSafe is a major investor in the Super A-Mart business,” a union media release stated.
“This is despite Super A-Mart failing a number of safety inspections at its Melbourne warehouse and blocking workers from being part of a health and safety committee.”
