A dispute between workers at Coles’ National Distribution Centre in Melbourne turned into an indefinite strike last week over a new workplace agreement with Toll (the company which Coles outsources their warehouse staffing to). Staff believe the agreement does not provide them with the same pay and benefits as employees employed directly by Coles.
Early last week 250 workers and union officials barred access to the warehouse by Toll Group trucks, interrupting the approximately 100-130 trucks that usually pick up and drop off produce to the warehouse each day and threatening supplies to Coles stores.
Understanding the Coles Melbourne Strike and Its Impact
Toll planned to direct work to other warehouses, and to stand down employees at the distribution centre until the strike ended. However, 76 workers at a regional warehouse in Goulburn walked out for part of the day last Wednesday to protest this re-distribution of the work. Workers at other large NSW food distribution centres also threatened similar strike action, prompting Coles to make an application to Fair Work Australia to stop the strike in Melbourne and prevent further strike action. Coles feared strikes could spread to all of its NSW distribution sites.
After losing this application they headed to the Supreme Court on Saturday to seek an urgent injunction. The court adjourned the matter to today, Monday 16 July, because the union failed to attend on Saturday. The court scheduled the hearing for 2 pm.
This sees the strike heading into its 7th day.
While breaking news reveals that the Supreme Court ordered an end to the strike it is understood that the union has vowed to continue. The strike action has had repercussions for availability of stock at Coles stores, particularly regional stores, sales and it may have an impact on prices, in addition to legal costs and reputation damage
Toll and Coles are just two of the many organisations that have seen their employees take action against work policies or practices that they disagree with, and have suffered disruption and financial loss as a result.
Key Areas to Measure Through Employee Engagement Surveys
In large organisations, managers often find it difficult to gauge the mood of the workforce, and they struggle to predict how important decisions will affect employees.
Many successful organisations use workforce surveying as a proven risk management tool. Regular surveys can help to identify and prevent problems before they occur.
PeopleMetrics surveys are based on empirical research and cover a wide range of known and emerging issues, including:
- Perceptions of fairness re remuneration
- Perceptions of organisational support
- Employee commitment
- Job satisfaction
- Stress and burnout
- Leadership style
- Ethical climate
- Trust
- Intention to leave
Our post-survey research indicates the following benefits as a result:
- Improved workforce motivation and commitment
- Reduced workforce turnover and dissatisfaction
- Better defined organisational goals and values
Employee surveys can form part of a broader organisational program, with psychometric testing helping you identify the people who best match your business’s values, goals, and required skill sets.
Our group company RightPeople has a range of assessment tools that can be used for all employee groups to measure skills, attitudes and competencies of applicants or employees, to aid hire, promotion and training decisions.
Let us strengthen your risk management practices and help you to identify any issues before they become unmanageable and cost you financial and reputation damage. Contact us to find out more about our employee surveys.
Image from heraldsun.com.au.
