Article summary
- ALDI workers in South Australia have rejected ALDI’s Enterprise Agreement
- SDA's NO campaign against the Agreement was successful
In a landmark move, ALDI workers across South Australia have rejected ALDI’s latest Enterprise Agreement.
This was the result of a strong campaign by the SDA Union – South Australia’s largest union – calling on workers to reject the proposed offer.
In its rejected Agreement, ALDI refused to acknowledge the major concerns of its workforce – refusing to offer guaranteed pay rises for most of its workforce or deal with workers’ concerns about understaffing and excessive workload.
While the SDA was a bargaining representative for workers during negotiations, ALDI refused to consider most claims raised by the SDA and workers.
It is the first time ever ALDI workers have voted to reject a proposed Agreement in Australia.
This rejection comes off the back of the SDA’s Class Action against ALDI, which is seeking $100 million in backpay for workers who performed unpaid work.
The SDA will be seeking to negotiate a new Agreement with ALDI that recognises that needs of its workforce.
“ALDI’s Agreement was not good, but it was different. It was a dud deal that undercut workers’ pay and conditions and workers have seen right through it.”
– Josh Peak, SDA SA Secretary
Quotes attributable to SDA SA Secretary Josh Peak
“The SDA ran a strong NO campaign against the Agreement for one simple reason: ALDI workers deserved better.”
“At a time when the cost of living is hurting so many Australians, refusing to guarantee thousands of workers pay rises for 3 years is immoral.”
“ALDI has continuously treated its workforce with contempt. They’ve underpaid workers millions of dollars and tried to undercut their conditions and now they are paying the price for their actions.”
“ALDI can’t continue to ram through these dud deals and ignore their own workers.”
“The SDA is urgently calling for ALDI to return to the bargaining table to negotiate a fair deal that workers can support.”