Coles strike to continue over weekend

14 Jul 2012, 6:34 pm   -   Source: AAP
Toll Group is heading to the Supreme Court to appeal a picket at a Coles warehouse to continue. (AAP)

Toll Group is heading to the Supreme Court to appeal a picket at a Coles warehouse to continue. (AAP)

A weekend court bid to end the Coles warehouse strike in Melbourne has been dropped until Monday, allowing the picketing blockade to continue.

RELATED

Toll Group has been forced into abandoning its weekend court bid to end the continuing picket by striking Melbourne workers at a Coles warehouse.

The move means the industrial action, which is blocking supplies from being delivered to Coles stores, will continue for at least another two days.

Toll Group, which manages the Somerton site in the city's north for the grocery chain, had tried arguing on Saturday for an emergency injunction order to stop the blockade, which began five days ago.

But the Victorian Supreme Court heard union lawyers didn't turn up to the hearing because they had not yet been properly served, prompting the judge to grant standing down the matter until Monday.

"We're disappointed that the union decided not to show up," said Andrew Ethell, Toll Group's corporate affairs general manager, after the Saturday hearing.

"They are putting their own interests ahead of their workforce's and that's just not right."

National Union of Workers (NUW) members have been blocking trucks from entering or leaving the Coles warehouse since Tuesday as they fight for better pay and conditions.

Toll Group lawyer Stuart Wood had said it was a matter of urgency to stop the picket immediately.

"There are real life individuals whose livelihoods are being impacted," he told the court.

An employment relations manager also gave evidence during the Saturday hearing that as many as 15 employees who wanted to work were denied entry to the site on the first day of the strike.

One employee feared he couldn't pay his bills if the picket continued and others were already seeking employment elsewhere, he said.

But Justice Tony Pagone said that evidence was not compelling enough to prove irreparable harm and, while he was disappointed the union had failed to attend, it was within their strict legal entitlements to do so.

Toll Group asked for an adjournment shortly after the judge flagged how the weekend injunction effort was likely to fail.

NUW assistant state secretary Gary Maas said earlier this week that the union is committed to undertaking talks with Toll, but wants Coles to come to the table as well.

"Start making a genuine effort to resolve this dispute," he told reporters.

The matter now returns to court on Monday afternoon.

  • Follow us: 
  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on Youtube