GRAIN handlers at GrainCorp sites across New South Wales will vote on whether to take industrial action after an application was made to the Fair Work Commission to hold a protected action ballot on Tuesday.
At least 200 GrainCorp employees will have until October 23 to vote on the proposed protected industrial action which could feature a range of work-stoppage durations.
These could impact grain-handling operations for periods ranging from 30 minutes to days, or feature indefinite stoppages.
The industrial action could impact every GrainCorp site in NSW, with workers at each site having the option to decide on the type and timing of action, and whether bans should include specific action such as unloading trucks and loading trains.
Australian Workers’ Union NSW secretary Tony Callinan alleged the workers have seen their pay go backwards in real terms over the past three years.
He said in 2021, 2022 and 2023, grain handlers received an annual increase of only 2 percent a year, despite inflation rising at a rate of 2.86pc, 6.59pc and 4.1pc respectively, meaning wages have declined by 7.5pc.
He said this comes alongside GrainCorp reporting consecutive projects across the three-year period of $139 million in 2021, $177M in 2022, and $250M in 2023.
“GrainCorp aren’t negotiating in good faith and their grain handlers have had a gutful,” Mr Callinan said.
“[I]n 2022 we wrote to them saying due to inflation going through the roof, they should pay grain handling staff more, and they said if their workers want more money they can work overtime, then they took the overtime away.”
Mr Callinan said the proposed industrial action would hit the company during the high-activity harvest period.
“This year has been another good year and with the grain harvest about to commence in the coming weeks, AWU members will be taking industrial action during this bumper harvest period.”
Mr Callinan has also claimed that the proposed action was also as a result of wage differences between the NSW and Queensland GrainCorp workforces.
“Our members in NSW do the same work as members in Queensland and only want to be paid the same; that’s just plain fair, the same pay for the same job, you don’t need an ethics degree to work that out.
“Our members now have no choice; they will have to refuse to load grain trains, otherwise GrainCorp management just won’t listen.”
In a statement, GrainCorp refuted the claims that the company had failed to engage in honest discussions with the AWU.
“GrainCorp continues to negotiate in good faith with our employees and the [AWU] and has held 10 meetings with them in the last six months,” the statement said.
“We respect the rights of our workers to take protected industrial action and remain committed to working collaboratively through this process.
“Our goal is to continue these discussions constructively, ensuring a positive outcome for our employees while maintaining a strong and reliable service for growers on site.”
Ahead of the vote closing date, the two parties will meet for a compulsory conciliation conference on October 18.
This meeting will be before the Fair Work Commission and forms a part of the protected action ballot process under the Fair Work Act.
GrainCorp said it was “disappointing” that the AWU had “indicated that it intends to take industrial action ahead of both this conciliation and a formal vote by its members”.
The proposed action could be more widespread than the action taken by 10 GrainCorp employees at the Port Kembla terminal in 2023.
The fulltime employees and AWU members undertook five days of industrial action in May in a bid to have their wages increased.
The enterprise agreement for these workers came into force on October 20 of that year.
In 2022, the Maritime Union of Australia threatened strike action at GrainCorp’s Newcastle terminal after negotiations around pay and conditions reportedly hit a stalemate.
Source: AWU, GrainCorp
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