Alcohol retailer Dan Murphy’s is alerting customers to stock shortages at some of its New South Wales and Victorian stores, as industrial action at Woolworths-operated warehouses leaves a growing number of grocery, beer and wine shelves bare.
The disruptions in the busy pre-Christmas trading period come ahead of a crucial Fair Work Commission hearing on Friday, when Woolworths will argue that the picket line outside a key distribution centre in Melbourne should be cleared.
Industrial action has affected up to five distribution centres run by Woolworths’ supply chain arm, Primary Connect, which also counts Endeavour Group, the owner of Dan Murphy’s and BWS stores, as a customer.
Woolworths is the former owner of Endeavour.
An Endeavour spokesperson said Victorian and southern NSW stores were experiencing stock shortages.
“The degree of impact on stock differs across our stores,” the spokesperson said.
“While deliveries continue, certain stores may experience a decrease in how often they receive new stock.”
Some of Endeavour’s liquor outlets now have signs alerting customers to the shortages that resemble notes put up at affected Woolworths stores.
More than 1,500 Woolworths warehouse workers have been on strike since 21 November seeking better pay and safety on the job, with the support of the United Workers Union (UWU).
The union is seeking a pay increase to at least $38 an hour for staff, and it wants Woolworths to scrap a productivity framework it has described as “punitive”.
Australia’s biggest supermarket chain has also been criticised for pay rates for store workers, where base rates are just over $26 an hour, although it recently brokered an enterprise agreement with the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association (SDA).
The UWU is the dominant union at Primary Connect distribution centres, although the SDA has a presence.
Woolworths disclosed earlier this week that it had lost $50m in grocery sales since the start of the warehouse industrial action that has disrupted the flow of goods into some of its stores.
Woolworths said in a statement that “a majority of the team” at the Melbourne south regional distribution centre had indicated they wished to return to work to begin being paid.
The distribution centre is the most significant of the five affected centres, and is the subject of Friday’s Fair Work hearing.
A UWU spokesperson said on Thursday it had received $115,000 in donations to support striking workers that will help members with “crisis payments and food costs”.
A spokesperson said the most effective way to get workers back to work and shelves restocked is for Woolworths to reach an agreement.
“They can fix this today with an agreement that addresses safety concerns with the framework and provides cost-of-living wage increases,” the spokesperson said.
