9newsMany Woolworths shelves are bare and stores are running low on stock as strikes force the closure of five distribution centres.
Distribution workers across the country are currently 10 days into a strike.
As a result, the supermarket giant is facing a pre-Christmas crisis with empty shelves and fridges at most stores across Victoria and hundreds of stores across Australia.
It has left customers frustrated.
“We don’t wanna miss out on the special treats at Christmas time that we normally would,” one shopper said.
“Where’s all the stock? There’s none there,” another said.
“Of course, the next step is to go to Coles and buy what we couldn’t get,” a third said.
The United Workers Union warned the pain would continue unless a deal was struck.
“Everybody’s seeing the impact this is having in the stores it is real and it’s going to continue and intensify but Woolworths can fix that. They can fix that tomorrow,” UWU’s Andrew Giles said.
The strike comes after six months of failed negotiations.
Workers are demanding a pay rise above inflation. They want an immediate 25 per cent rise and a 30 per cent rise over the next two years.
They also want Woolworths to cut its productivity requirements.
“Until you finish and clock out and leave the site, you are tracked. The company knows exactly what you’re doing,” Giles said.”
“Essentially Woolworths wants every single worker to work 100 per cent performance 100 per cent of time,” Giles said.
Woolworths told 9News it was negotiating with the union and planned to reopen its Dandenong distribution centre in Victoria tomorrow.
The supermarket claims its staff want to get back into paid work before Christmas.
But striking workers said they would continue the action as long as they had to.
“Every worker should have the right to provide for their family,” Giles said.
