Australia: Warehouse strikers block Woolworths' attempt to break picket line in Melbourne

This morning, Woolworths attempted to forcibly reopen its Melbourne South Regional Distribution Center (MSRDC) in Dandenong South. The factory, along with two other Woolworths warehouses in Victoria and one in New South Wales, have been closed since November 21 due to an indefinite strike over wages, working conditions and safety.

Workers at a fifth factory, owned by the company’s supplier Lineage, in Melbourne, have been on strike since November 22. In total, more than 1,800 warehouse workers are involved in the ongoing strike. Hundreds of other workers at a Woolworths distribution center in Heathwood, Queensland, also went on a 24-hour walkout on Friday.

This morning the major supermarket chain attempted to break the picket line in Dandenong South by bringing workers in on buses. More than a dozen police officers were reportedly sent to help break the strike, indicating the Labor government’s direct involvement in this attack on a legally “protected” strike.

Striking Woolworths workers in Dandenong South on December 2, 2024 (Photo: X/@vic_socialists)

Although strikers and protesters managed to hold their ground this morning, the company’s action constitutes a major attack on democratic rights and a stark warning of what is to come. Unless the strike is quickly extended to other Woolworths employees and wider sections of the working class, it will be crushed.

In a letter to all Woolworths employees yesterday, the company said it had contacted “nearly three quarters of the site’s team, where a majority (72%) of those contacted indicated they wanted to return to work and be paid within critical deadlines. before Christmas. » 72 percent of three-quarters would represent only 54 percent of the workforce.

The letter re-emphasizes the fact that workers have not been paid, highlighting the significance of the United Workers’ Union (UWU)’s refusal to pay adequate strike pay. Instead, the union created a crowdfunding page, which raised just over $23,500 – an indication of the overwhelming support for the strike, but a tiny fraction of what workers need to continue their fight. The UWU bureaucracy has total assets of $274.9 million, ultimately coming from worker contributions.

The letter states: “The majority of MSRDC team members are not members of the UWU. The Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association (SDA) has approved a bid from Woolworths Group presented last week.

UWU secretary Tim Kennedy said this was “irrelevant”, vaguely stating that the SDA “has fewer than 10 members affected by the framework of this conflict”.

In fact, it’s very significant. Last week, Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) leaders Sally McManus and Michele O’Neil were welcomed with open arms to the Woolworths picket lines by UWU management. The SDA is a major player in the ACTU: its national secretary, Gerard Dwyer, is a senior vice-president of the peak union body.

Even as McManus told strikers at Erskine Park on Friday, “I just want to say on behalf of all the unions that we are behind you,” one of the country’s largest unions was either stitching them together or had I already did it. It is not plausible that McManus was unaware of this fact.

McManus doesn’t just oversee the work of unions. She is also a prominent member of the Labor Party, whose attitude towards the strikers and industrial action in general is clearly revealed by sending the police to help Woolworths forcefully reopen the warehouse.

The attempt to break the Woolworths strike, supported by the ACTU and Labor, is a blatant demonstration of the company’s hostility towards its workers, but the conditions for this were created by the UWU leadership.

The fact that workers at five Woolworths factories in three states, as well as those at the company’s supplier Lineage, have all gone on strike demonstrates that workers face the same issues across the board, but the UWU has worked actively to isolate the strike, disarm workers and prevent broader mobilization of support.

This is clearly demonstrated by the fact that the company’s promise to break the strike, sent to employees yesterday and reported in the media last night, is not even mentioned on the union’s social networks. Workers went to the picket lines today, totally isolated in the face of escalating attacks by the company.

The UWU’s weak criticism that efforts to break the strike at Woolworths were an act of “bad faith” reflects the fact that the union bureaucracy is not leading a fight against the company, but engaging with it in behind-the-scenes negotiations to orchestrate a fire sale. The union’s concern was that efforts to break the strike would disrupt a bargaining meeting scheduled to take place this morning.

The reality is that the UWU has been trying to sell out workers from the start. Even before the strike began, Kennedy had made it clear that the company only needed to increase its pay cut offer by 1 to 1.5 percent (or a total of 4 to 5 percent) per year , despite the fact that workers had voted in favor of the strike on the basis of the strike. to fight for an increase of 10 to 12 percent per year.

Stepping in to cover up the UWU’s hanging of workers, the Victorian pseudo-left socialists called on “community supporters” to step up the picket. The fact that between 100 and 200 people turned out to defend the strike is significant, indicating broader support for the struggle among workers. Limited protest action cannot replace wider industrial action, which the UWU is actively blocking with the full support of Victorian socialists.

For the vast majority of Woolworths warehouse workers across the country, the thought of thousands of their colleagues being on strike has been increased overtime and workloads as their distribution centers have been employed to take over and minimize shortages on supermarket shelves. The only political organization that informs workers of their colleagues’ strike is the Socialist Equality Party (SEP) and the World Socialist Website (WSWS).

Workers at Woolworths’ large Brisbane Regional Distribution Center (BRDC) in Larapinta yesterday told SEP activists they knew little or nothing about their colleagues’ indefinite strike action in Victoria and New South Wales.

Hundreds of workers were at work, many more than usual on a Sunday. The company actually uses them to fight the strike, without even being informed by the unions.

Others heard about the strike in the media and called for united action against poor pay and the company’s oppressive performance monitoring system, in which they say workers are constantly under video surveillance.

As they entered and exited the facility, workers stopped to pick up WSWS flyers about the strike and offer their comments. They thanked SEP supporters for providing them with information and fighting to broaden support for the strike.

“We haven’t had any briefings here,” a warehouse worker said. Another said: “We are ready to strike. They should be everywhere… The unions are on the side of the company; their representatives benefit from paid meetings. It’s as if the unions own shares in the company.

A worker who knew about the strike said: “This place should be on strike too. Another worker said: “I agree we should all get out.” » One worker who had not heard of the strike said: “The unions don’t bother to tell us. They don’t have the courage to go on strike. They are cowards.

The SDA primarily covers the facility, but worker members of the UWU said the silence from both unions has been deafening. The fact that the UWU did nothing to inform BRDC workers of the industrial action is particularly striking, given that workers at Heathwood, just 4 kilometers away by road, went on strike for 24 hours on Friday.

Woolworths’ attempt to break the MSRDC strike is a major attack on the democratic rights of the entire working class. Australia’s draconian anti-strike laws, imposed by successive Labor governments and enforced by the union apparatus, already prohibit industrial action except for brief periods of negotiation every three or four years.

Today’s events demonstrate that even this limited right cannot be tolerated by the ruling class. With the obvious involvement of the Labor government at the state – and probably federal – level, the police were mobilized to help end a so-called “protected” strike.

This is a direct consequence of the isolation of the strikers by the UWU. To combat this attack, the broadest layer of workers must be urgently mobilized to support the strike and their own rights in the workplace.

This is impossible as long as the UWU, or any other union bureaucracy, is calling the shots. Woolworths workers must regain power by creating their own rank-and-file committees, politically and organizationally independent of any union bureaucracy.

Through these committees they can make a powerful appeal to their counterparts at other Woolworths sites, Coles and the wider logistics sector, all of which are under attack.

Today’s attack highlights that workers are not just facing Woolworths, but also Labor, the union apparatus, the employment tribunals and the capitalist system itself.

This demonstrates the need to fight for a workers’ government capable of implementing socialist policies. Big businesses, including Woolworths and Coles, as well as the big banks, must be brought into public ownership and democratic worker control. Only in this way can society’s vast resources be used to meet the needs of the entire working class, including permanent and secure employment with decent pay and conditions, and not for profits. of the wealthy elite.