Two workers have been dismissed and Woolworths has told dozens of warehouse employees it is investigating their alleged conduct during a recent 17-day strike that cost it more than $100m in sales.
In November 2024, about 1,500 warehouse staff across four of the company’s distribution centres in New South Wales and Victoria took industrial action over pay and workplace conditions.
A spokesperson for Primary Connect, the grocery giant’s supply chain arm, confirmed a “number of investigations” were ongoing as a result of alleged “unlawful picketing”, adding that there would be no disciplinary action for those who lawfully took part in protected industrial action.
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Guardian Australia understands workers at striking sites in both states have now received letters notifying them of internal investigations. Several letters seen by the Guardian indicate the supermarket giant is focused on alleged pickets that took place on 26 November outside warehouses in the Woolworths distribution network that were not the employee’s own worksite and that were not then subject to industrial action.
A United Workers Union (UWU) spokesperson said it was aware of “several different matters” being raised by Woolworths with members after the industrial action but did not confirm the investigations.
“United Workers Union is representing members in these matters with the goal of ensuring members are heard and they receive fair outcomes,” he said. “It’s the view of United Workers Union that at this stage the best interests of members are not served by further comment.”
According to letters from two different sites, the conduct being investigated involved allegedly “blocking the exit and entry” of vehicles.
The Primary Connect spokesperson also said two employees had been sacked for their alleged behaviour during an incident outside a site that was not on strike. Both workers declined to comment.
The Primary Connect spokesperson said that staff who received investigation letters would have an “opportunity to respond before any findings are made”.
In response to the letters, several workers told Guardian Australia they saw Woolworths’ internal investigations as “100%” retaliation against workers for a strike that cost the supermarket giant at least $140m in grocery sales and left shelves bare up and down the east coast.
“They are upset,” a worker said. “They are showing their power now.”
In early December, Woolworths took the United Workers Union to the Fair Work Commission, alleging that it had breached good faith bargaining requirements over the pickets after the company failed in its bid to reopen the Melbourne South regional distribution centre.
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The Fair Work Commission deputy president, Gerard Boyce, found the UWU had “organised, promoted or participated in obstructive picketing” and was “placing or attempting to place illegitimate pressure on Woolworths during the bargaining process”.
John Howe, a professor who specialises in industrial relations law at the Melbourne Law School, said picketing a site that was not taking part in protected industrial action could leave workers vulnerable, even if it was owned by the same employer.
“I don’t think there is much difference between picketing your own workplace and another worksite of the same employer,” he said. “Legally, striking workers cannot do much more than peacefully protest.”
Formal meetings were to be held to “discuss” the allegations from 6 January, according to the letters Guardian Australia saw.
After the strike, workers at the sites won pay rises in the first year of between 4% and 4.5% and between 3.15% and 4.5% in years following. They also secured new language addressing performance management.
In October, Guardian Australia revealed fears from staff in Woolworths warehouses about an efficiency crackdown described as “disciplinary and coercive” by the union, including that workers were being pushed to comply with unrealistic and risky standards.
A new clause will be added to workplace agreements “that ensures that the workers will not be disciplined for the speed that they can work at, and an acknowledgment that not everybody can pick at 100%”, the union said after a deal was reached.
Do you know more? Contact ariel.bogle@theguardian.com