Local Woolworths shelves will begin to be replenished this week as distribution centres reopen, just in time for the Christmas shopping season.
The decision comes after a tribunal ruled striking workers engaged in “unlawful picketing”.
Lawyers acting for the supermarket giant sought interim orders in the Fair Work Commission last Friday to prevent the United Workers’ Union from blocking entry at four locations.
The four distribution centres, two in Melbourne, one in Barnawartha and one in Sydney, were affected from November 21 as union members began strike action at five centres after months of failed negotiations on improved pay and working conditions.
Woolworths disclosed a substantial $50 million decline in sales and a 40 per cent decrease in distribution capacity since the strike action commenced, highlighting the dispute's economic toll.
The company estimates that approximately two million cartons of goods, enough to fill 100 supermarkets, haven't reached stores like Yarrawonga.
The Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association has endorsed a new ‘revised’ agreement with Woolworths, but the UWU has expressed concerns about new staff monitoring procedures Woolworths is proposing for warehouse staff.
In an interim judgement, delivered ahead of a final hearing, Fair Work Commission deputy president Gerard Boyce said he was satisfied the union had been involved in actions beyond protected industrial action.
“I find the UWU is not and has not met its good-faith bargaining obligations under the (Fair Work) Act,” he said.
In yet-to-be-finalised orders, the United Workers’ Union will be restrained from obstructing or hindering movement at the distribution centres and will have to send a message to all members.