Annual Meeting of Coles Workers and Activists Sparks Picketing at Supermarket

More than 50 Coles workers, unionists, and activists have staged a protest outside the Coles annual meeting calling for higher wages, more security in stores, and an end to what they describe as price gouging.

Members of the Retail and Fast Food Workers Union in Victoria went on strike on Nov. 3 while members in other states held shorter stoppages, according to the union.

“Workers are paid poverty wages in unsafe workplaces, they’ve got insecure jobs and we need that to change,” union secretary Josh Cullinan told reporters at the demonstration in Melbourne.

“Our members can’t afford the groceries that they sell.”

Workers, unionists, and activists have staged a protest outside the Coles annual general meeting.

Cullinan said the strike was purposefully staged on the day of the annual meeting and was critical of the gathering being held in a complex protected by police and security guards when ordinary workers didn’t have that level of safety.

Coles worker and union delegate Nelio Da Silva said a lot of staff at his store were struggling, and abuse against workers was on the rise.

“The $1.1 billion (US$0.71 billion) in profit Coles has made, that needs to be shared around amongst workers, the community, everyone,” Mr. Da Silva said.

A spokesperson for Coles said it provided above-award conditions and passed on the Fair Work Commission’s 5.75 percent annual wage increase in July to supermarket workers.

Victorian Greens MP Sam Hibbins also attended the protest and ramped up calls for government price controls.

Chairman James Graham told the meeting Coles had 120,000 team members, and the Retail and Fast Food Workers Union represented around 500 of them.

Coles was negotiating with the union in good faith, as it would with any representative for its workers, he said.

“Because we need to have a positive and supportive relationship with our team members, in order that we can conduct our business in a way which we’re proud of, and our customers enjoy and feel comfortable with,” Mr. Graham said.

Twice-yearly surveys that Coles conducts of its team members found most are positive, confident, and proud to recommend Coles, he said.

“But there will inevitably be issues… and we’ll work those issues through.”

Coles chief executive Leah Weckert says the company is providing “value at every price point.”

Chief executive Leah Weckert told the meeting that during 2022/23, Coles reduced prices through multiple dropped and locked sales campaigns.

With Christmas around the corner, it has a curated 349-product Christmas range focused on providing value at every price point, she said.

Ms. Weckert also highlighted efforts to modernize its supply chain with a new automated distribution center in Redbank, Queensland, that opened in April, supplying room-temperature groceries to 219 stores as far away as Laurieton, New South Wales, and Port Douglas, Queensland.

Still not yet fully operational, the warehouse spans 66,000 square meters, making it one of the biggest automated distribution centers in the world, she said.

“This the single biggest capital investment and technology investment in Coles’ history,” Ms. Weckert said.

Mr. Graham said the Redbank warehouse might move three million packages a week in the lead-up to Christmas.

Another automated distribution center in Kemps Creek, NSW is expected to receive its first groceries early next year, with a new customer fulfillment center for e-commerce orders to come online in mid-2024, Ms. Weckert said.