Australia could face a “significant” chicken shortage as workers at the country’s largest poultry producer prepare to kick off industrial action on Friday in pursuit of an 18 per cent pay rise.
More than 1000 workers at Inghams – which supplies Woolworths, Coles, Aldi, KFC, McDonald’s and Subway – in South Australia and Western Australia will strike for 24 hours on Friday in a bid to win a 6 per cent pay rise, annually, for the next three years.
That equates to about an extra $1.50 an hour per worker.
The United Workers Union (UWU) said the workers were prepared to take more industrial action unless Inghams met them with a “respectable agreement”, which will have a “big impact” on chicken supplies.
“(If the action keeps going), most definitely it will have a big impact on supplies. Even the stoppages over Friday are going to have an impact on supplies. That’s a fact,” UWU national secretary Tim Kennedy told The Australian.
Mr Kennedy said ongoing action would impact Ingham’s operations as well as those down the supply chain, including farmers, due to the just-in-time industrial process.
“If we don’t reach an agreement and the dispute continues, it’s going to have a significant impact on supply.”
The UWU said Inghams could afford the 6 per cent annual pay rise because it had pocketed huge profits thanks to customers’ copping rising chicken prices.
In August, Inghams warned that high costs of feed and energy could result in another price rise for chicken products – after prices had already increased by 12 per cent in the last year, The Australian reports.
According to the newspaper, Inghams reported that revenue for fiscal 2023 rose 12.2 per cent to $3.04 billion, while net profit rose 72 per cent to $60.4 million.
In a statement to news.com.au, the UWU accused Inghams of “standing over” workers ahead of the planned strike, saying the company issued “propaganda to confuse workers about their protected rights” and threatened to lock them out if they took part.
Mr Kennedy said it Inghams was serious about respecting its workers – who earn $25 an hour – it would use its massive profits to pay a “fair wage”.
“Instead of dipping into their deep pockets, Inghams managers have opted for obfuscation and intimidation,” Mr Kennedy said in a statement to news.com.au.
“It’s really quite atrocious behaviour when you consider that these are the very workers who have contributed to their huge profits by showing up every day, during pandemics, in the middle of the night, on public holidays, doing a less-than-glamorous job to make sure that Australians have protein on their plates.”
Inghams has reportedly countered the union’s offer of a 6 per cent annual pay increase for the next three years with less than 4 per cent annual increases for the South Australian and Western Australian workers.
It has offered increases to the South Australian employees of 3.9 per cent in the first year and 3.5 per cent in the second and third years.
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Meanwhile, Western Australian workers have been offered increases of 3.85 per cent, 3.45 per cent, and 3.5 per cent over the three years.
The union is reportedly also seeking the right for casuals to convert to permanent employment after six months, but Ingham has rejected that claim.
News.com.au has approached Inghams for comment.
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