Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As we meet here in Parliament House, 150 workers in Bendigo have stopped work. It's not easy to stop work and to give up wages. You only do it if you have to do it, but the workers at Lactalis in Bendigo, formerly known as Parmalat, have done it. Their fight, their struggle, is about job security. Far too many of them are still casuals or on fixed-term contracts. One of the workers I spoke to last Thursday, the first day of their action, has been a casual for seven-plus years. It's the same roster each year, yet his company has not confirmed him as a full-time worker. This is simply outrageous at a time when people want job security.

You may not know the name of this company. It is the largest dairy company in the world. And the family who own it are worth an estimated $22 million, but they manufacture products we all know, Paul's, Aldi products and Vaalia. These are all popular brands that many of us consume each day. Yet the workers who make these products are struggling with job insecurity and pay disparity. The workers in Bendigo are paid far less than the workers in Echuca. In this dispute, they are not asking for pay parity, just some form of pay equalisation. I stand with these workers, like the community does. We want this multinational company to sit down and work this dispute out—give these workers the job security they deserve.