<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>334841</docID> <postdate>2024-12-07 14:32:55</postdate> <headline>Workers continue Woolies blockade in defiance of ruling</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-334842" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/20241202192899744875-original-resized.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="601" /></p> <caption>Warehouse workers have been told to stop blocking Woolworths distribution centres. (Diego Fedele/AAP PHOTOS)</caption> <p><span class="kicker-line">By <strong>Samantha Lock</strong> and <strong>Adrian Black</strong></span></p> <p><strong>Picketers are continuing to prevent a major Woolworths distribution centre from resuming operations in defiance of an earlier Fair Work Commission ruling. </strong></p> <p>The group assembled outside a distribution centre in Melbourne's south-east on Saturday morning despite a ruling on Friday by the industrial umpire barring workers from blocking access to the site.</p> <p>Woolworths said its team members attempted to return to work at the centre in Dandenong but were "met by picketers who physically blocked their entry to the site".</p> <p>"We call on these picketers to stand down and allow safe entry to the site for our Dandenong team members who want to get back to work after more than two weeks of strikes," a company spokesperson said in a statement on Saturday.</p> <p>The Fair Work Commission on Friday ruled picket lines led by United Workers Union members at four key Woolworths' distribution centres were unlawful, with members told they could not blockade the warehouse entrance.</p> <p>In a statement on Saturday, the union urged its supporters to comply with the orders, noting the failure to do so would "put at risk the goals our members have been striking for".</p> <p>Warehouse workers and the retail giant have been locked in tense negotiations for months over pay and conditions, including an algorithmic management platform the union said put employees at risk.</p> <p>In handing down a bargaining order, commission deputy vice president Gerard Boyce said the union had failed to meet its good faith requirements under the Australian workplace laws.</p> <p>"The conduct is not part of any protected industrial action," he told the hearing.</p> <p>"It's not the simple removal of labour from the employer."</p> <p>The actions had unfairly blocked warehouse workers and truck drivers who wanted to get into the work sites, the commissioner found.</p> <p>Picketing had also taken place at distribution centres not involved in bargaining talks, which amounted to unprotected industrial action.</p> <p>The major supermarket closed the centres, lacking the staff to operate them safely, but claimed workers wanting to return had been blocked by union members.</p> <p>More than two weeks of industrial action has emptied thousands of supermarket and bottle shop shelves in Victoria, NSW and the ACT and cost the supermarket chain at least $50 million.</p> <p>Woolworths said it would continue to engage with Victoria Police and remained hopeful there will be an endorsed deal with union across the sites.</p> <p>The union has also vowed to continue discussions with the supermarket giant and work towards an agreement for its members.</p> </body>