FOLLOWING several months of negotiations, Fonterra Australia has announced that an in-principle agreement has been reached with the United Workers’ Union to support production workers at their Cobden, Stanhope and Darnum sites.

The news, announced at 6am this morning, Friday, October 27, will ensure the such products as Woolworths milk, Western Star butter and Perfect Italiano cheese remain on the shelves as threatened strike action, set to start this week, is called off.

 “Fonterra Australia is pleased that an in-principle agreement has been reached and an offer will be presented to our production workers for their decision,” Rob Howell, Supply Chain and Operations Director, Fonterra Australia said today.

“This offer is largely in line with what was previously on the table, following months of negotiations with the union. We reiterate that an agreement could have been reached without the union taking industrial action, which unfortunately reduced the pay packets of striking union members,” Mr Howell said.

The revised offer will now be taken to Fonterra Australia’s production workers for their feedback. The offer includes:

1. Better Pay: an increase of 12% over three years (5% in year 1, 4% in year 2, 3% in year 3), plus a $500 sign on bonus
2. More Leave Options: increase in Sick Leave entitlements, up to 5 days paid Emergency Services Leave, up to 10 days Domestic Violence Leave, additional Stored Days Off and 2 days mental health first aid training leave for union delegates
3. Greater Protections: improved protections for workers and recognition of Return-to-Work union delegates to support members if injured at work.

“Throughout these negotiations, we have been focused on reaching an agreement that was fair for our people, our farmers, our customers and the regional communities in which we operate. We all benefit when we are able to run a healthy business, which is the best way to protect jobs in regional communities,” Mr Howell said.

“We look forward to discussing this in-principle agreement with our people,” he said.

Fonterra’s announcement follows a 48-hour strike by 1400 workers across four major dairy companies last week with hundreds of thousands of litres of milk tipped out without enough drivers to make pickups in time.

The United Workers Union kept up the pressure earlier this week.

“We want Fonterra to read the room and understand dairy workers are serious about winning a cost-of-living pay increase,” said UWU National Secretary Tim Kenned,y.

“A company that hasn’t listened to its workers for six months should go into the talks prepared to meet their expectations or face the consequences,” he said ahead of Thursday’s talks.

In separate meetings with United Workers Union delegates covering eight Saputo sites on Tuesday, Saputo agreed to significant improvements in both pay and conditions.

“The vast majority of dairy workers who took action last week now have a pay offer of 5 per cent in front of them for Year 1,” Mr Kennedy said.

“That gets them closer to the current inflation rate and is double the pay rise of 2.5 per cent dairy workers agreed to to help their companies out during the pandemic.

“Total dairy worker pay offers now ranging up to 14 per cent over three years (at the Peters Icecream site) give workers a real chance to at least start addressing the cost-of-living crisis.

“In the case of Saputo, the current three-year offers in front of workers ranging between 11 per cent and 12.5 per cent are way up on previous company offers as low as 8.25 per cent.

Now Forterra has also come to the party in a moment of huge relief for local dairy farmers.