By Casey Neill
Striking workers at Yakult in Dandenong South say management is refusing to speak to them.
About 30 workers walked off the job at the Monterey Road probiotic drink factory on Monday 19 March and have since maintained a 24-hour presence at the site.
Doveton man Paul Grundy has worked at Yakult for 12 and a half years.
“It’s basically about wages,” he said.
“We asked for a pay rise to combat the CPI (consumer price index).
“They only offered 2.5 per cent, but they wanted to take clauses out of the EBA (enterprise bargaining agreement).
“They don’t want to take the money out of our wage to pay the union.
“They want us to pay the union direct.”
Mr Grundy said workers told Yakult they would accept the 2.5 per cent rise if the EBA remained the same.
“Since then, the managers don’t want to talk to us,” he said.
Workers are now asking for a 3 per cent wage increase.
Mr Grundy said the striking workers were mainly production staff.
He said no vans had left the site during the National Union of Workers (NUW) protected industrial action, and no trucks had come in to pick interstate and overseas deliveries.
“The company is losing lots of money,” he said.
He said the product had a 45-day expiry date so they’d have to move it into the stores soon or throw it away.
“The first thing we need to happen is for them to talk to us,” he said.
The Journal reached out to Yakult sales and corporate affairs director David Whatley but was unable to make contact before deadline.
