Grocery stores across Victoria have been forced to place harsh purchase limits on dairy products as the state strains under the impact of a massive ongoing strike.
Dairy workers in the state have been striking all week, with milk tank drivers beginning industrial action on Tuesday and 1,400 plant workers walking off the job on Wednesday across more than a dozen different sites.
The strike is expected to run for 48 hours.
Premier Jacinta Allan has warned against panic buying of milk, and has called for workers and unions to “come to the table and negotiate”.
An IGA in Murrumbeena, a suburb in Melbourne’s southeast, has said a limit of two milk cartons per customer will be in place for the “foreseeable future”.
Lactalis, who produces the milk product in question, is allegedly on board with the proposed purchase limits after contacting the IGA on Wednesday.
“We just got word that there would be shortages and we noticed a little upsell in milk where it started selling out pretty quick,” Jackson Meredith, who owns the IGA, told news.com.au.
Woolworths, Coles and Aldi have all confirmed they have no purchase limits in place and aren’t experiencing any supply issues as of yet.
Woolworths has warned it could be stocking a reduced supply of its home-brand milk, but has contingency plans in place.
At least one Woolworths store has been seen with a sign warning of “supply disruptions” placed on its home-brand milk cartons.
Industry giants including Saputo, Fonterra, Lactalis and Peters are all impacted by the strike action, which the United Workers Union is calling the “biggest dairy strike in living memory”.
Supply of a range of dairy products including milk, butter, ice cream, yoghurts and cheese will be affected from popular labels of Devondale, Liddells, YoPro, Peters, Western Star, and Perfect Italiano .
Production and supply of cheeses sold by Coles and Woolworths, along with McDonalds and Hungry Jacks soft serve ice creams will also be delayed.
Workers are pushing for a five per cent pay rise and improved working conditions, as dairy companies reap in booming post-pandemic profits.
Fonterra’s supply chain director, Rob Howell, said on Monday the company had offered workers a minimum pay increase of 10.5 per cent over three years, as well as additional leave options.
Peters and Saputo have said the company is continuing negotiations with workers, while Lactalis says its priority is working with farmers closely.
Farmers are currently at the peak of the spring milk season, which is only adding to the chaos of the strike.
Milk prices are likely to rise, hundreds of cows may be forced to the abattoir and farmers will struggle to cope with managing droughts and bushfires after the New South Wales government made a significant change to water rights for agriculturalists.
The Minns government late last month dropped a bombshell on farmers when it suddenly announced the Coastal Harvestable Rights – which dictates how much rainwater can be harvested on properties – was slashed from 30 per cent to 10 per cent.
The previous government had lifted the cap to 30 per cent to give farmers living along the coast a chance to store water to prepare for droughts, bushfires and grow food.
NSW Water Minister Rose Jackson, who claimed the move would enhance water sustainability, has come under fire from angry farmers caught up in the change.
Graham Forbes, who runs a large cattle farm in Gloucester, about 120 kilometres north of Newcastle, said consumers are likely to be impacted, with the price of dairy products to rise as the supply of milk will be “severely impacted” by the decision.
“We would not have the security to be able to produce milk in dry times, and also the cost of producing milk will be significantly high,” he told SkyNews.com.au.
“We don’t have the ability to put the price up, they (dairy farmers) do it for economic reasons or they leave the industry and that’s what’s been happening.”
Mr Forbes flagged his property had already been going through a dry spell prior to the decision, saying there had only been about 40mms of rain in the past five months.
“We need water every hour of the day, we’re securing our future,” he said.
In their annual special report, Sky News Australia meteorologists warned of scorching heat, bushfires and drought between now and April.
Northern, central and eastern Australia, in particular, are looking at a 90 per cent chance of exceeding median temperatures through severe weather season.
There is also likely to be increased flash droughts which can impact agricultural areas.
Fellow farmer Chris Magner on the Far North Coast said drought security was vital to surviving, saying the dry conditions were already starting to hit “very, very hard”.
“People are running out of feed and they’re running out of water. If they run out of water they’ve got to sell their cattle,” he told SkyNews.com.au.
“I was talking to meat works and they can’t keep up with the kill rates of cattle coming in and that’s right across the state. Everybody is trying to reduce numbers as quickly as they can and it’s putting more and more pressure on abattoirs.”
Mr Magner also echoed remarks from Mr Forbes about prices of dairy products.
“When we start to lose numbers in dairy, and I’ve formerly been a dairy farmer, when we see milk production crash it puts tremendous pressure on the local market and it could take some considerable time to build up afterwards,” he said.
Ms Jackson told The Daily Telegraph earlier this month the decision would enhance water sustainability for the whole state heading into an expected drought.
She also claimed the government had extensively consulted with the NSW Irrigators Council (NSWIC) and farmers’ groups about the looming decision.
However, NSWIC, as well as farmers, called out the Minister’s comments and flatly rejected suggestions there was consultation.
Chief Executive Claire Miller said irrigators were “absolutely blindsided” by the decision.
“We haven’t had any consultation on this one… we still don’t know exactly what the reason is for rolling it back, we’re obviously scrambling around today,” Ms Miller told Sky News Australia Sydney reporter Kenny Heatley late last month.
(Sky News)
