Wednesday, 29 October 2025

 Aiv PUGLIELLI (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (18:57): (2062) My adjournment matter today is for the Minister for Industrial Relations. The action I seek is that you act in solidarity with Padre Coffee workers in their struggle for improved pay and working conditions. The roasting and production team at Padre Coffee in Brunswick East have been negotiating an enterprise agreement with their employer since August of 2024. These workers do not feel that their current wages reflect the true value of the work they bring to this business. They have kept up with neither the rising cost of living nor the increasing work demands. Alongside a wage increase, these workers are fighting for better conditions, paid cultural leave for First Nations staff and paid gender-affirmation leave. I have heard that some of these Padre Coffee workers are struggling to meet rent payments and to afford basic healthcare costs. They even find it hard to cover the cost of bringing lunch into work some days, yet what they hear from their bosses is that:

[QUOTES AWAITING VERIFICATION]

Shareholders continue to expect a return on their investment into our business.

At this point, while the employers have agreed to some non-financial claims, they have not made a single counteroffer on the core claims from workers and are instead crying poor and saying they cannot afford them. I will note that Padre Coffee is part of the Seven Miles Coffee Company group. This group is funded by the private equity firm LVP, who reportedly manage over $1.6 billion in assets. I stand with the workers of Padre Coffee and support their calls for better wages and conditions. In the words of one of their workers:

For the literal blood, sweat and tears we shed for our work so that the business can operate to generate revenue, we do not think it unreasonable to expect a little more so that we can live happy, healthy lives without fear of a crippling dentist bill or rent increases.