Tuesday, 17 October 2023

 Gary MAAS (Narre Warren South) (17:05): Unfortunately, it is an age-old problem: huge multinational companies move into regional areas and forget that they are a part of the community as well. To that end I would like to commend the United Workers Union manufacturing dairy workers who are taking 48 hours strike action from tomorrow to go up against the companies of Saputo, Fonterra, Peters and Lactalis. These workers, some 1400 of them – and I believe that the Transport Workers’ Union is going out in solidarity, all the truck drivers – are currently on strike. These workers are doing this because they only got very, very minimal wage increases over COVID. While people were at home globally, revenue increased for all of these companies by some 25 per cent and profits by over 170 per cent, yet these workers have to go on strike just to ask for a cost-of-living wage increase. To those workers at Saputo, Fonterra, Peters and Lactalis in Allansford, Warrnambool, Cobram, Leongatha, Tangambalanga, Laverton, Cobden, Darnum, Stanhope and Mulgrave, you have the solidarity of not only me, of not only the members in this chamber, but the Victorian government as well.