Hundreds of workers across Coles and Woolworths supermarkets will walk off the job on Saturday as part of a union action demanding better work and pay conditions.
Staff represented by the Retail and Fast Food Workers Union (RAFFWU) will halt work for two hours in the first national strike of its kind.
RAFFWU federal secretary Josh Cullinan said almost 1000 workers were expected to walk off the job at 10am at sites across Victoria, NSW, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT.
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“It will cause disruption at some stores,” he told 7NEWS.
“Right across the country, there’ll be workers walking out.
“In some stores that will be one or two courageous workers, but in other stores it will be half the store that walks out.”
Cullinan said Coles and Woolworths staff were paid “the absolute minimum” and were victims of regular abuse and harassment.
“They want an end to poverty rates and they want living wages,” he said.
“They want crimes in their workplace to be dealt with seriously.
“When there’s threats, intimidation, assaults in their workplace, they want it treated like a crime.
“They want the space shut down, the cops called and systems put in place to make their workplace safe.”
Union members are also calling for secure jobs, Cullinan said.
“Casual workers want secure jobs, ongoing jobs, and part-time workers want secure hours,” he said.
Woolworths said it expected about 300 of its more than 130,000 workers to strike on Saturday.
“We have been in regular contact with RAFFWU bargaining representatives and an initial bargaining meeting has already occurred,” a spokesperson said.
“We have a long history of bargaining in good faith with our team and will continue to do so.
“However, we acknowledge and respect the right of team members to take protected industrial action.”
The supermarket giants say they expected the strike would have minimal impact on customers and stores.
About 450 Coles workers are registered with the union and most stores have fewer than five members each.
The company says it is “working collaboratively” with staff and bargaining representatives on a proposal for a new supermarket enterprise agreement.
In July, the supermarkets both passed on a 5.75 per cent wage increase to team members in line with the Fair Work Commission’s decision to increase the national minimum wage.
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