In a decisive turn of events, the long-standing and contentious pay dispute between Wilmar Sugar and its employees has finally reached a resolution, paving the way for significant wage increases and bonuses. Growers can now breathe a sigh of relief, as the resolution ensures that the threat of disruptive industrial action will no longer jeopardise their crucial crops.
A majority of Wilmar Sugar and Renewables employees has voted in favour of a new enterprise agreement (EA) offering an upfront $2,500 bonus and 16 per cent in wage rises. Fifty-five per cent of eligible employees who participated in the ballot voted in favour of the company’s three-year offer.
The two-day ballot closed at 3pm today. The majority yes vote means more than 1,320 employees will receive the bonus and a 12 per cent increase in pay by Christmas, with a further 4 per cent increase next December.
A company spokesman said the positive ballot result brings to a close a challenging and long-running negotiation and associated disruptive industrial action.
“We thank everybody who participated in the ballot, particularly those who voted to accept the company offer,” he said.
“It draws a line under a period that impacted not only our business and our people, but the growers and harvesting operators who are so critical to the sugar supply chain.
“The focus now is on getting this year’s crop harvested and producing high-quality sugar for customers in domestic and export markets.”
CANEGROWERS Chairman Owen Menkens has urged Queensland’s sugarcane industry to pull together, following the resolution of the long-running pay dispute between Wilmar Sugar and three unions representing mill workers.
Workers at the company’s nine Queensland sugar mills voted over the past 48 hours to accept a new Enterprise Agreement put forward by Wilmar Sugar and Renewables last week.
“It’s great to have this issue finally resolved in a way that is acceptable to both the workers and the mill,” Mr Menkens said.
“It has dragged on for far too long, has delayed cane crushing across half of the industry, and caused great anxiety to growers and harvesting contractors, so to see an agreement finally in place is a tremendous relief.
“Now it’s time to put it behind us, and for the entire industry to come together, support our mill workers and our contractors, and put our shoulders to the wheel so we can make the 2024 season a success.
“Let’s crush it between now and December.”
As of today, Wilmar’s eight factories have processed about 6.3M tonnes of sugarcane, representing about 40 per cent of the estimated crop.
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