Major Woolworths distribution centres are set to reopen after the supermarket giant struck a deal with its workers' union, ending a long-running warehouse worker strike.
A group of picketers blocked access to the Dandenong centre in Melbourne’s southeast earlier on Saturday but operations could resume in a matter of hours after the company and the union struck a deal.
The United Workers Union denied the picketers were affiliated with the union and later confirmed workers across three warehouses in Victoria and one in NSW had voted to accept a revised offer after striking for 17 days.
The union said more than 1500 workers and their families had been forgoing pay while on strike to improve wages "to be treated as human beings, not robots".
It also heavily criticised a “Woolworths framework”, an algorithmic worker performance management program that the union said monitored pick rates and put employees at risk.
"The new enterprise agreement won by workers breaks the link between measuring the speed of their work and automatic punishment if they fall behind - a system that effectively attempted to treat Woolworths warehouse workers like robots," a spokesperson said.
After months of negotiations, the union said it had secured wage increases above the rate of inflation and a new clause would be added to workplace agreements “that ensures that the workers will not be disciplined for the speed that they can work at”.
“Today, warehouse workers at Woolworths have saved Christmas,” union secretary Tim Kennedy said in a statement on Saturday.
“But more importantly, they have challenged one of the most significant threats to worker safety and wellbeing as we enter a new AI-surveillance era of work ... and they have won.”
Woolworths said its four warehouses would be back to full capacity as soon as possible.
“We are pleased to have endorsed offers for new terms and conditions and a competitive wage for our team at our four distribution centres that have been subject to indefinite industrial action over recent weeks,” chief executive Amanda Bardwell said.
The supermarket giant said it was focused on getting its products out of the distribution centres and restocking empty shelves.
“Turning back ‘on’ such a large part of our supply chain will mean 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," Ms Bardwell said.
More than two weeks of industrial action has emptied thousands of supermarket and bottle shop shelves in Victoria, NSW and the ACT and cost the supermarket chain at least $50 million.
On Friday, Woolworths celebrated a court victory, with the Fair Work Commission finding the union had been unfairly negotiating with the supermarket giant, describing protest picket lines outside its distribution hubs as "unlawful".
