Workers employed at Saputo’s Burnie dairy processing plant have walked off the jobs protesting over mainland workers in similar facilities being paid up to 21% more to do the same jobs.
Workers at the Burnie facility, which manufactures Tasmanian Heritage, South Cape, Mersey Valley cheese and others, say they want equal pay for equal work.
The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union is calling on Saputo Dairy to address the discrepancy between Tasmanian and mainland wages, which it says have been ignored during enterprise agreement bargaining negotiations.
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AMWU state organiser Mike Wickham says the issue is more widespread than just at Saputo and Tasmanian-based companies are struggling to attract skilled workers on less pay.
