Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Christinamiot.
Speaker 1: It's Monday, November eleventh. Anthony Albanesi's personal approval ratings have
Speaker 1: hit a new low. According to new data from Newspoll,
Speaker 1: the leadership contest between the PM and Opposition leader Peter
Speaker 1: Dutton is the closest it's ever been, as primary support
Speaker 1: for the Coalition lifts to forty percent for the first time.
Speaker 1: You can read analysis of those new numbers by our
Speaker 1: experts right now at the Australian dot com dot au.
Speaker 1: Jim Chalmers says any isolationist policy agenda enacted by US
Speaker 1: President elect Donald Trump wouldn't immediately threaten Australia's economy, but
Speaker 1: in a speech to the Australian Institute of Public Affairs tonight,
Speaker 1: the Treasurer says he is remaining cautious of a longer
Speaker 1: term tariff war between the United States and China. Christmas
Speaker 1: year could be in short supply this year if a
Speaker 1: bargaining dispute between Woolworths and the union representing thousands of
Speaker 1: its warehouse workers goes south. There's a pay rise on
Speaker 1: their wish list and they're threatening to walk off the
Speaker 1: job if the supermarket Giant doesn't deliver. That's today's episode.
Speaker 1: There are just six fridays between now and Christmas Day,
Speaker 1: or forty four sleeps or about two advent calendars, however
Speaker 1: you slice it. Christmas Day is close and when it
Speaker 1: rolls around, Australians around the country will sit down with
Speaker 1: their loved ones to celebrate in our unique style. There'll
Speaker 1: be presents and carols and Christmas Morning swims at the beach.
Speaker 1: Lights and decorations will adorn homes and malls and main
Speaker 1: streets the country. There'll be paper hats and Christmas crackers
Speaker 1: and collective groans at the dad jokes. Contained inside, they'll
Speaker 1: be prawns and Christmas hams and fresh zingy salads. Right,
Speaker 1: maybe not. The distribution network relied upon by Woolworths is
Speaker 1: facing significant disruption in these all important weeks before Christmas.
Speaker 1: It's warehouse workers say they're not being paid a fair
Speaker 1: wage and they're prepared to walk off the job if
Speaker 1: the supermarket giant doesn't come to the table with a
Speaker 1: better offer.
Speaker 2: Now, if that was to occur, the union says that
Speaker 2: would cause massive disruption to the delivery of goods. The supermarkets,
Speaker 2: so there would be delays in the boxes of goods
Speaker 2: being put on trucks and being sent out for the
Speaker 2: different supermarkets, so that would potentially lead to shortages.
Speaker 1: The union says you and Hannon is the Australian's Workplace Editor.
Speaker 2: All escalating our bargains with the United Workers Union, whose
Speaker 2: members work at four key distribution centers in Victoria and
Speaker 2: New South Wales. The bargaining has been going on for
Speaker 2: some time. The unions essentially want above inflation pay rises
Speaker 2: over the next three years. In some cases the combined
Speaker 2: increases would be as high as thirty six percent. The
Speaker 2: company in response, this is the distribution arm of Woolworths
Speaker 2: Primary connect They are proposing pay rises of about three
Speaker 2: and three and a half percent a year, which should
Speaker 2: be roughly inligned with inflation. There are two other key
Speaker 2: issues in dispute the distribution centers workers there are covered
Speaker 2: by a range of different enterprise agreements. The union once
Speaker 2: the workers all brought into one national agreement. The thirty
Speaker 2: issue is a contentious one in relation to a so
Speaker 2: called framework agreement, which is a surveillance operation that works
Speaker 2: on distribution warehouse workers where their work is monitored, but
Speaker 2: the union and the workforce argues that this puts the
Speaker 2: employers under too much pressure and increases the risks of
Speaker 2: safety accidents and potential injuries, and the union ones that's
Speaker 2: scrapped entirely.
Speaker 1: The lead up to Christmas is a critical time of
Speaker 1: year for Woollies. The supermarket chain needs to dramatically increase
Speaker 1: supply and make a huge number of specialty items available
Speaker 1: in order to meet shoper demand over the silly season.
Speaker 1: But when members of the United Workers Union met last week,
Speaker 1: they endorsed strike action that could include indefinite stoppages, and
Speaker 1: that means up to five million boxes of Christmas ham
Speaker 1: crackers and seafood could be in short supply.
Speaker 2: The company says it's put contingency plans in place to
Speaker 2: start stop piling and get supplies from other areas and
Speaker 2: also divert supplies from other distribus incentives. So obviously both
Speaker 2: sides are saying it'll have a particular impact, but we
Speaker 2: n't know until the actual form of the action is known,
Speaker 2: But certainly it would be an uncertain time for the
Speaker 2: company going into this critical Christmas period, both for consumers
Speaker 2: and both for the company's operations.
Speaker 1: When unions threaten to take this kind of industrial action,
Speaker 1: they usually need to give three days notice, but given
Speaker 1: what's at stake here, the notice period has increased to
Speaker 1: seven days, and that means workers could walk off the
Speaker 1: job as soon as Friday. The United Workers Union is
Speaker 1: putting pressure on Woolworths to bump up its payofer, but
Speaker 1: Woolley says its current offer is in line with inflation. Basically,
Speaker 1: it's a standoff.
Speaker 2: So what happens next is the meetings will occur on Tuesday,
Speaker 2: the workers will flag the next round of action or
Speaker 2: will probably be an escalation of the action. Now, if
Speaker 2: Wulworth stands firm and doesn't lift it softwer, that's going
Speaker 2: to increase the likelihood of action. But if the company
Speaker 2: does come back with a higher offer, which probably comes
Speaker 2: some way in between what the union is actually seeking
Speaker 2: as a headline rate and what the company is offering,
Speaker 2: there could be progressed. So the union says at once
Speaker 2: definitive above inflation increases given the cost of living pressures
Speaker 2: which are being faced by the workers. So, as you say,
Speaker 2: it's a classic standoff, there's a lot of dramatic talk
Speaker 2: and we'll see how it plays out. In the days
Speaker 2: and works.
Speaker 1: Ahead coming up why Woolley says things aren't exactly looking up.
Speaker 1: In twenty twenty five, it's been a tough year for Woolworths.
Speaker 1: The supermarket chain is facing a court case brought by
Speaker 1: the Consumer watchdog, which says it misled customers on price
Speaker 1: drops and discounts.
Speaker 3: The supermarkets are now scrambling to try and gain back
Speaker 3: the trust of customers.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 3: If the AH Triple C's allegations are true, it is
Speaker 3: without question misleading and manipulative behavior, especially during a cost
Speaker 3: of living crisis.
Speaker 1: Woolworth's former chief executive Brad Banducci, exited the business in
Speaker 1: September after a train wreck TV interview earlier in the year.
Speaker 2: I mean, he is retired, but I shouldn't have said that.
Speaker 2: Are we going to leave it in there?
Speaker 3: If we are, well, I mean we're on the record
Speaker 3: he said it.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, let's move on. But yeah, yeah, no,
Speaker 1: I think I'm done.
Speaker 2: Guys.
Speaker 1: You know I do this with a good intent. You know,
Speaker 1: I don't do this for bad intent.
Speaker 2: You walking out?
Speaker 4: Really?
Speaker 1: We just sent new boss Amanda Bardwell had only been
Speaker 1: in the job for seven weeks when at the end
Speaker 1: of October, the nation's largest retailer suffered a shock profit downgrade.
Speaker 1: That's because shoppers are tightening their purse strings and opting
Speaker 1: for heavily discounted groceries amid an ongoing cost of living crisis.
Speaker 4: Willworth's shares got hammered today after the supermarket chain released
Speaker 4: a surprise profit warning. Wilworth said customers were trading down
Speaker 4: and buying cheaper items, but it flagged weaker sales growth
Speaker 4: in the second quarter.
Speaker 1: Announcing those results, Bardwell wasn't exactly projecting an air of
Speaker 1: optimism about the year ahead.
Speaker 4: Amanda Bardwell said, we expect the environment for fiscal twenty
Speaker 4: twenty five to remain challenging. We will also continue to
Speaker 4: engage in good faith with the government and regulatory inquiries
Speaker 4: and investigations.
Speaker 1: Wilworth's biggest competitor, Coles, has an existing agreement with distributors
Speaker 1: to ensure its smooth sailing into Christmas, and Ewan says
Speaker 1: it could actually put coals in the more desirable commercial
Speaker 1: position in the lead up to the festive season. Surely
Speaker 1: a fight with its workers is the last thing Warworth
Speaker 1: needs right now.
Speaker 2: There's obviously a heightened appetite for an industrial action amongst workers.
Speaker 2: Where the workforces are unionized. There's a push on, particularly
Speaker 2: from the United Workers Union and other similar unions, for
Speaker 2: cost of living increases to stay above inflations. They say,
Speaker 2: companies like Warworks can afford them, and certainly the unions
Speaker 2: are trying to capitalize them that bad publicity that Warworks
Speaker 2: has suffered in recent times, to carry the public argument
Speaker 2: with them, to try to exploit this idea that wor
Speaker 2: worse might be on the nose with customers to a degree,
Speaker 2: and so hoping that the public could be sympathetic to
Speaker 2: their plight and give them the sort of momentum to
Speaker 2: take this industrial action. Although you've got to say any
Speaker 2: industrial action which affects such a big employer in the
Speaker 2: leadup to Christmas is not going to be popular with
Speaker 2: the general community.
Speaker 1: You and Hannon is The Australian's Workplace editor. You can
Speaker 1: read that exclusive story, as well as all the nation's
Speaker 1: best news, sport and politics, right now at The Australian
Speaker 1: dot com dot au