Hopes Of Fair Work Commission Mediation For Wilmar

Unions negotiating a new enterprise agreement with Wilmar Sugar and Renewables are consulting with members on a company suggestion that the parties accept an invitation from the Fair Work Commission for the assistance of a Commissioner in resolving issues remaining in dispute.
The invitation for assistance was extended by a Commission Vice President after a hearing of the Full Bench in Sydney earlier this month (5 July).
During last week’s talks between the company and union representatives, the company put forward the suggestion of taking up the Commission’s offer in order to move on from the continuing stalemate.
A company spokesman said: “We have been willing from the beginning to explore all options to reach a fair and reasonable outcome acceptable to all parties, and we have welcomed the Commission’s assistance in the past.
“We hope that union members agree with us that the Commission’s invitation is an opportunity to move forward.”
Company and unions representatives discussed a number of options to close the gap between their positions. However, progress was limited to log items and not the key issue of the increase in wages employees might receive.
The discussion between the company and union representatives had been proposed by Wilmar before the Full Bench hearing.

Meanwhile, Wilmar Sugar and Renewables’ mills reportedly hit a sweet spot on the weekend, with strong factory performance and improved cane supply.
Group Manager Operations (Sugar) James Wallace said Wilmar’s eight sugar factories averaged above 85 per cent crush time over the weekend, following a challenging start to the season.
“Our factories have settled in and we’re seeing some good daily totals,” Mr Wallace said.
“The Burdekin region recorded above-budget throughput last week.”
Mr Wallace said the Wilmar group had now processed about 10 per cent of the estimated 15.59M tonne crop.
“Despite the interruptions to the crush thus far, we are only a week behind our initial throughput targets. We remain optimistic that, with a continued good run, we will process this year’s crop in a timely manner.”
Mr Wallace said the factories had experienced some stops and starts in the first few weeks of the season due to industrial action and wet weather.
“Thankfully, we’ve now got dry conditions and good cane supply in most of our regions.
“The main cane supply gaps are in the Herbert region where there are still some wet paddocks, but conditions are improving every day.”
Mr Wallace acknowledged the efforts of employees across the business in maximising weekly throughputs and sugar production.
“Our people are pulling together and working hard to get this crop through the factories for the sake of local growers and communities.
“Unfortunately, we are faced with notices of industrial action from unions this Thursday, which will force us to shut down the boilers and stop production at all sites for up to 16 hours,” he said.
“Our Operations and Cane Supply teams are managing the impacts as best they can but this industrial action will hurt harvesting operators, growers and communities at a time when we need to maximise production.”
Latest production statistics:
Herbert region – 214,000 tonnes processed
Burdekin region – 1.2M tonnes processed
Proserpine Mill – 115,000 tonnes processed
Plane Creek Mill – 98,000 tonnes processed

Group Manager Operations (Sugar) James Wallace

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