Unionists who have established picket lines at Woolworths facilities and supermarkets should immediately stand down for the sake of Australian families getting ready for Christmas after what has been a tough year, the Australian Industry Group said.
"We need to let essential items flow to Australian families, who are struggling through soaring costs of living and trying to provide a happy Christmas for their loved ones. This is the last thing they need after a stressful year," said Innes Willox, Chief Executive of the national employer association.
"This is a highly cynical and irresponsible dispute orchestrated to cause maximum damage and disruption at the worst possible time. The dispute is a sad reminder for Australians of the self-interested industrial chaos unions used to visit on Australians in the 1970s.
"A majority of workers want to return to work and should be allowed to reopen supply chains for the Christmas table. A militant minority should not be able to stand in their way.
"This is an employer that pays well over the minimum wage in awards and successfully negotiates multiple agreements with multiple unions, so there is no reason for the United Workers Union to have gone to the nuclear option.
"The union is being completely unreasonable regarding the processes that are designed to ensure safety, productivity and efficiency in a complex logistics environment involving hundreds of trucks coming in and out.
"We can't have unions telling 21st-century businesses they have to operate like 19th-century businesses – and dictating how they organise and manage work. This is a try-on.
"Those who stock shelves and drive trucks are soon not going to have enough work, just weeks before Christmas.
"This dispute, should it roll on, won't be confined to Woolworths. One major operator prevented from being able to move goods in Australia's complex logistical chains will have knock-on effects right across the retail sector and beyond.
"We call on the union to sit down with the employer and end this strike immediately.
"Stop holding Australian families to ransom," Mr Willox said.
