WORKERS at a western suburbs distribution centre for Coles are celebrating after winning a pay rise and shift loading without industrial action.
As exclusively reported by the Weekly last month, warehouse workers threatened to strike after learning they were among the lowest paid in Melbourne.
Packers and forklift drivers at the Polar Fresh Coles Laverton Distribution Centre had been receiving a base rate of $23.81 an hour — $6.35 less than those doing similar work for Woolworths in Broadmeadows and $5.37 below IGA cold store workers in Laverton.
They were also going without shift loadings and being paid less than their Coles counterparts in the east, who received up to $28.72 an hour and full shift penalties.
National Union of Workers organiser Matt Toner said that after the Weekly story, the company made an offer which workers overwhelmingly accepted. Workers will receive a 4.5 per cent increase in the first year, followed by 4 per cent rises in the second and third years. The increases will bring the base rate of pay up to $24.88 an hour the first year and $26.91 in the third year.
“The outcome delivered on the shift loading claim, which was to compensate people for the unsocial hours they were working,” Mr Toner said.
“We didn’t get pay parity with other sites, but we did significantly improve upon and catch up to other industries’ rates of pay.
“A worker on afternoon shift will be — including wage increases — about $14,500 better off; night shift is about $11,300 [better off].”
