Simplot Australia has ended a year of negotiations with the announcement of a new enterprise agreement for hundreds of employees at its Tasmanian and NSW manufacturing plants.
Employees voted in favour of the new agreement that delivers wage increases of six per cent over three years to around 800 employees working across manufacturing sites at Bathurst and Kelso in NSW and Devonport and Ulverstone in Tasmania.
Simplot says management has been negotiating with bargaining representatives since early 2014 to replace the current enterprise agreement.
The vegetable processor had hoped to rein in labour costs to in order to boost the future viability of its plants, but late last year, negotiations broke down with unions imposing work bans at its Tasmanian plant.
“This agreement was complex and difficult as it heralds the march back to global competitiveness for our major Australian operations,” Simplot managing director Terry O’Brien said.
“We needed to achieve a balance of improved productivity, reduced labour cost escalation and at the same time reflect the reality of cost of living pressure on our employees. Clearly these aims are not necessarily aligned and so compromise was required from both the company and the employees."
According to Simplot, those employees covered by the new agreement will receive a 2.5 per cent wage increase in year one, followed by increases of 1.5 and 2 per cent in years two and three of the agreement.
At the same time as securing employee conditions and benefits, the new AMWU, CEPU and Simplot Australia National Collective Enterprise Agreement 2014 – 2017 will boost the company’s ability to be flexible in the future, according to Simplot.
“I believe we found a compromise which will help Simplot Australia maintain its hard earned market position and to restart desperately needed sales and margin growth whilst continuing to protect the jobs and above award wages of our employees,” O’Brien said.
