Woolworths is working overtime to stack its shelves ahead of Christmas, after 17 days of industrial action cost it big in lost sales.
Distribution centre employees stopped work citing issues with pay and safety concerns, before they clinched an 11 per cent bump and other assurances in a deal struck on Friday.
Woolworths said it lost around $140 million in sales due to the empty shelves as a result of the action.
The grocery giant has moved more than one million cartons of goods from the four affected distribution centres since they came back online, with other factories chipping in to re-stock affected stores.
“With just over two weeks to go until Christmas, we’re now focused on getting products out of the distribution centres and restocking our shelves as quickly as possible,” a Woolworths spokesperson said.
“Turning back on such a large part of our supply chain means it will take some time for our stores to look their best, and we’ll be ramping up as much as we can to get products to the stores where they’re needed most.”
The United Workers Union claimed victory over the strike, after safety concerns about an algorithmic performance management system were addressed.
UWU logistics director Dario Mujkic said the AI-powered system was determining the speed employees had to work at and was forcing them to work more quickly than was safe.
“The agreement with Woolworths across all these four warehouses says workers will not be disciplined around the speed of work,” he said.
“What we wanted to control was to make sure people had protection so as long as they're doing their job, they're not pressured to work faster and faster and faster … they will not be pressured to work faster than they can work at a reasonable speed.”
In a statement to the ASX, the supermarket also forecast a $50 million hit to profits due to the dispute.
Woolworths' industrial dispute was followed by separate stop-work action at soft drink powerhouse Coca-Cola.
Its factory workers walked off the job on Monday, claiming the global giant paid staff significantly less than major rival Pepsi.
About 150 workers from Coke's Northmead factory, in western Sydney, voted to take industrial action that the union said could impact Christmas supply of the popular drink.
Electrical Trades Union NSW secretary Allen Hicks said the Coca-Cola workers would be better off at Pepsi.
“Despite doing the same work, workers in Coca-Cola’s Northmead factory are paid significantly lower than those working for Pepsi,” he said.
“Coca-Cola has a two-tiered wage system which sees some employees paid significantly less than their co-workers, even though they’re doing exactly the same job.”
In response, Coca-Cola Europacific said it was still in negotiations with workers at the Northmead manufacturing and logistics site on a new enterprise agreement.
"We continue to take a constructive approach to negotiations and have proposed an EA that we believe offers rates that are competitive to the market and above the award wage with greater benefits," a spokeswoman said.
Coca-Cola workers also have issues with rostering and the company's progression structure.
Mr Hicks said it was a new take on the age-old "Coke vs Pepsi" debate.
“All these workers want is to be paid in line with industry standards ... when it comes to treating its employees with respect, Pepsi is winning hands down,” he said.
