Foster's has hit back at claims by unions that it is ignoring its Yatala employees and not giving them a fair go in current wage negotiations.
The company's General Manager, Yatala, Mr Noel Jago, said the company was continuing to negotiate in good faith with its 280-strong workforce, via its Employee Consultative Committee.
"We met again yesterday and had a general discussion with this Committee. We also outlined the new three-year deal which we are offering to our people," he said.
"This deal amounts to a 14% wage increase over the next three years, plus other generous benefits and conditions," he said.
Mr Jago said that the Yatala site had only ever had Employee Collective Agreements with its workforce since it commenced operating 19 years ago.
"We are not trying to change anything," he said.
"We simply want to continue with this arrangement, which has served us so well in the past but more importantly also delivered our workforce positive outcomes."
Mr Jago said he was disappointed at the tactics being employed by the unions.
"It's become obvious that the unions view this routine negotiation by a high profile Australian company as an opportunity to highlight their concerns around Australia's new industrial relations laws," he said.
"I can assure Queenslanders that all Yatala workers are free to be members of a union and unions are welcome to represent their members in the enterprise bargaining process to assist in delivering a mutually agreeable outcome.
"However our position remains that would always prefer to have a direct agreement with our workers - as we have since our inception over 19 years ago.
"We would like to see the focus of negotiations return to the offer on the table, which is highly competitive. Accordingly, we are hopeful of resolving the situation and reaching agreement as soon as possible," he said.
Further information:
Media
Brenda Walker
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Troy Hey
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Investors
Chris Knorr
Tel: +61 3 9633 2685
Mob: +61 417 033 623
