Union members working for Australian grain aggregator GrainCorp in New South Wales (NSW) state may strike in the coming weeks as part of a wage dispute that could disrupt the start of the winter crop harvest.
Australia's Fair Work Commission (FWC) approved a ballot of workers represented by the Australia Workers' Union (AWU) on 9 October, with voting to close on 23 October. If members vote in favour of protected industrial action, legal strikes could take place.
An AWU spokesperson confirmed at least 200 union members employed by GrainCorp would vote on proposed action including work stoppages and bans on loading and unloading grain onto trucks and trains.
GrainCorp and AWU must engage in a compulsory conciliation conference on 18 October to try to reach an agreement on unresolved issues before any strikes can occur.
"GrainCorp continues to negotiate in good faith with our employees and the AWU and has held 10 meetings with them in the last six months," a GrainCorp spokesperson said on 11 October. The firm said it was too early to assess the impact, if any, that industrial action would have on the harvest ahead of the conciliation and ballot outcome.
But NSW Farmers Grains Committee chair on 11 October called on GrainCorp and AWU to come to an agreement before harvest, stressing the cost of delays during harvest.
NSW is poised to have an exceptional winter harvest, thanks to favourable weather throughout the growing season. The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (Abares) projects winter crop production to increase by 50pc from 2023-24 to 16.9mn t in 2024-25, which would be the third-highest winter crop on record.
GrainCorp handled 37.4mn t of grain in the fiscal year to 30 June 2023, which is greater than the combined winter crop production of Queensland, Victoria and NSW in July 2022-June 2023, according to Abares estimates.
Grain Producers Australia did not respond immediately for comment.
