Community
22 October, 2023
Saputo workers join strike
SAPUTO Allansford workers joined a two day strike this week which has been called the biggest dairy strike in living memory.
More than 1400 workers from four major dairy companies took 48 hours of strike action – over Wednesday and Thursday – calling on major multinationals for a wage increase to address the cost-of-living crisis.
Among dairy workers’ claims was also paid emergency service leave so volunteer CFA workers can address natural disasters when necessary.
“You can’t run a dairy processing plant if all the dairy farms are burnt out,” United Workers Union National Secretary Tim Kennedy said.
He said Saputo’s failure to come to the table on paid emergency service leave was a sign of a multinational dairy corporation being out of touch with the regional communities it depends on.
“Workers who have done significant volunteering with the CFA fighting blazes that have threatened local businesses have been forced to stop those activities because Saputo refuses to offer paid emergency service leave to its workforce,” Mr Kennedy said.
“Emergency service leave is one of the reasons these workers are on strike, because they know how important their volunteering during emergencies is to others in their regional community.”
Dan Brown, a delegate from the Saputo Allansford site near Warrnambool, said he had experienced members of the emergency services who have pulled out of those services because “when they have gone off to provide emergency and disaster relief they haven’t been paid”.
“They should be paid. They are out looking after our suppliers, looking after us in the community and they’re representing Saputo,” he said.
Rob Lovell, a delegate from Fonterra Cobden, where Fonterra has made in-principle agreements about paid emergency service leave during the negotiations, said dairy workers at Cobden also volunteered with the CFA.
In 2018 fires near Cobden claimed milking herds and Fonterra Cobden was evacuated.
“In regional Victoria we’re prone to bushfires, and emergency service leave is really important,” Mr Lovell said.
“A couple of years ago there actually was a bushfire and they had to evacuate the site because there was smoke.
“I do believe paid emergency service leave is a good idea because it’s about people looking after their own communities and having that support in their communities.”
