00:00 Well, milk tanker drivers stopped work in eastern Victoria at three o'clock this morning,
00:07 which could prevent milk from being picked up from farmers who supply to the process
00:11 at Saputo.
00:12 Now, on top of this, 1400 dairy factory workers are planning to strike for 48 hours from tomorrow
00:19 as well across four main processes in regional and metropolitan Melbourne.
00:24 That includes Saputo, Lactalis Australia, Fonterra and Peters Ice Cream.
00:30 And that means there'll be no processing at 14 sites across Victoria.
00:35 Now, this protected action was organised by the United Workers Union, all because of a
00:40 result of a dispute over wage and working conditions.
00:45 Factory workers are calling for wage increases of 5% per year for the next three years, as
00:50 well as more job security and for transnational processes to recognise that the Victorian
00:55 dairy industry is in crisis.
00:57 Now, back to the drivers who are striking from today.
01:00 They're under the Transport Workers Union and they're unhappy about a new enterprise
01:06 bargaining agreement and the new shift changes that are proposed there.
01:10 And they're calling for better pay.
01:12 We spoke to the Transport Workers Union's Mel Memsuleman, who says that truck drivers
01:18 are tired.
01:19 Fortunately, we've got a situation where we've got a big multinational company in Saputo
01:25 who have declared an industrial war on milk tanker drivers across Victoria.
01:32 And through that, you know, we know that we are in an industry where we've had 186 truck
01:39 related deaths just this year alone.
01:42 These truck drivers are really overworked at the moment.
01:46 They feel fatigued.
01:47 They've been doing long hours and they're exhausted and they want to lock away their
01:52 job security.
01:53 Now, the United Workers Union National Secretary says it's the biggest dairy action in living
01:59 memory and it's going to impact not just milk, but other dairy products as well.
02:03 If this strike does continue, of course, dairy products are perishable.
02:07 So we are expecting shortages in cheeses, yogurts and even ice cream.
02:12 And this has farmers, dairy farmers unhappy as well.
02:15 They can only store up to three days worth of milk supplies if these trucks aren't coming
02:21 in and picking the supplies up.
02:23 So it's likely that any excess is going to be spilled over and wasted at the farms, Karina.
02:29 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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