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Hundreds of Woolworths staff have walked off the job indefinitely to demand better pay and safety conditions, threatening the supply of groceries being stocked on supermarket shelves in the lead up to Christmas.
More than 1,500 warehouse workers from four distribution centres are taking part in the strike action, calling for the supermarket giant to negotiate an improved workplace agreement.
The strike began on Thursday morning, with employees stopping work at three distribution centres in Victoria and one in New South Wales. Staff at a fifth warehouse are set to launch indefinite strike action on Friday.
The United Workers' Union said its representatives had been negotiating with Woolworths for "six months", before workers voted to take indefinite industrial action last week.
The union said workers wanted the productivity "framework" scrapped, which requires warehouse staff to achieve a 100 per cent performance target when picking items at speed, known as a "pick rate".
Outside the Erskine Park Distribution Centre in Sydney, UWU organiser Sharon Eurlings said the performance target was based on "engineered standards" that were guided by a "computer or a robot" and didn't account for an individual worker's ability.
"The biggest problem with this framework is because of the punishment that it actually involves," Ms Eurlings said.
"The company has not shied away from saying that they will actually use the pick rate in order to discipline their members.
"The goal just keeps moving and moving, it's never enough for this company."
Ms Eurlings says workers like Jakob (right) are disadvantaged by the performance framework. (ABC News: Chantelle Al-Khouri)
'They can afford to pay'
Warehouse worker Jakob — who asked for his surname not to be used — said the performance target loomed over staff, even when they were off the clock.
"It creates an atmosphere of uncertainty over your life at work, and your life outside of work, that doesn't quite go away," he said.
"You wake up, you think 'how am I feeling today? Can I go to work and can I hit 100 per cent?'
"Then you're at work, you're worried about keeping it up to 100 per cent with all the variables throughout the day, and then you finish and you're worried about resting up and recovering for your next shift where you're going to have to hit 100 per cent.
"It's simply not realistic to do that every day for the term of someone's employment."
Jakob, who asked for his surname to be withheld, is one of hundreds of staff who is striking indefinitely. (ABC News: Chantelle Al-Khouri)
Union organiser Dario Mujkic, who represented workers at the Melbourne Liquor Distribution Centre, said staff were also seeking a fair pay increase, and a national agreement that would see employees paid the same amount for doing the same work.
"It's got to be above the rate of inflation, it's got to be a real wage increase for people," he said.
"This company makes mega profits, [and] those profits are increasing, so they can afford to pay people a fair wage increase."
Strike could last until Christmas
Mr Mujkic said the ongoing strikes would have "huge impact" on the supply of groceries, particularly for the eastern states.
"This will have a huge impact. We know when one warehouse goes on strike, shelves start going empty," he said.
"It's actually unprecedented, this level of strike action across the Woolworths supply chain."
Workers are demanding Woolworths offer a higher pay rate to keep up with the cost of living. (ABC News: Chantelle Al-Khouri)
He added that workers were prepared to strike "until we reach an agreement on fair terms with Woolworths", even in the lead up to Christmas.
In a statement, Primary Connect — the supply chain business owned by Woolworths — said "several offers with competitive pay" had been put forward that were above industry standards and higher than inflation.
A spokesperson for the business also disputed the union's claim that the framework was not developed with the safety of workers in mind.
"Our framework is intended to enable us to work with each team member to the best of their ability to ensure a fair approach to how we manage operational performance, taking into account any personal circumstances or abilities," they said.
"Less than 2 per cent of our team have experienced coaching or retraining under the framework to improve productivity."
Woolworths doesn't expect the strikes to affect the supply of groceries on shelves. (Four Corners: Nick Wiggins)
The spokesperson added that the indefinite strikes at the distribution centres were unlikely to impact the supply of groceries to Woolworths supermarkets.
"We have extensive contingency plans in place to minimise any ongoing impact to customers, including significantly increasing stock levels in stores serviced by these [distribution centres], and utilising the other 20 [distribution centres] and 8,000 team members in our network to ensure regular deliveries to stores," they said.
"We value our team and are deeply committed to reaching an agreement as quickly as possible so they can receive the benefit of their new pay rates before Christmas."