Important win for Safeway meatworkers

by Anna Pha

Meat wrappers, display cabinet attendants and butchers employed by the 
Safeway supermarket chain in Victoria have taken strike action and picketed 
stores in two weeks of rolling actions, forcing management to back away 
from an attack on their wages and conditions and to conclude a new 
enterprise bargaining agreement.

Safeway was not told which meat rooms would be stopping on which days 
during the dispute. The picket lines resulted in deliveries being stopped 
which hindered the usual continuous replenishment of the shop shelves.

Safeway was attempting to make a number of changes. These included bringing 
in a new category of one-year trained workers as butcher assistants, an 
attempt to undermine the apprenticeship system.

Management was also pushing for the introduction of junior rates of pay for 
cabinet attendants.

They wanted to remove penalty rates for night and weekend work in place of 
the current 50 percent for night work, 175 percent for Saturdays and 200 
percent for Sundays.

The workers, members of the Australasian Meat Industry Employees' Union 
(AMIEU), fought Safeway on these issues and also for a pay rise. They won a 
3.5 increase for each year of the new three-year agreement.

The workers made some concessions on work on public holidays. They have 
agreed that four public holidays can be worked, that such work will be 
strictly at the discretion of workers and not mandatory, and that the 
penalty rate will be 250 percent. Previously it was not voluntary but the 
penalty rate was 300 percent.

The Safeway meatworkers have a separate agreement to that of the shop 
assistants, who are members of the Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers 
(SDA). Safeway wanted to force the meatworkers onto the SDA agreement, but 
the AMIEU members resisted this and won.

While the strike action and pickets were taking place the workers gathered 
signatures from Safeway customers on a petition. Customers were also given 
a leaflet which explained the issues and which also pointed out Safeway's 
$523 million profit and how the company was trying to increase that by 
cutting workers' wages.

More than 3000 customers' signatures were gathered on the petition during 
the two-week action.

Last Friday the workers voted to accept the offer from Safeway.

The agreement is very important as it sets standards for new agreements 
that are about to be negotiated with Bi-Lo and Coles Myer.