Workers at Saputo Dairy in Burnie, now in their 12th week on strike, are rallying today in their ongoing campaign for pay parity with their mainland colleagues.

Unions Tasmania, and our members across the state, continue to stand in solidarity with Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) and Communications Electrical Plumbing Union (CEPU) members at Saputo Dairy and encourage the community to continue to boycott Saputo products until the company pays its Tasmanian workers fairly.

Unions Tasmania Secretary, Jessica Munday, said that the campaign by Saputo members to close the 23.5% mainland pay gap that exists between their Victorian and Tasmanian sites is inspiring workers across Tasmania to ramp up campaigns for mainland wages in other workplaces.

“There is a tidal wave of Tasmania workers coming and they are fed up, frustrated and ready to fight for fair wages,” said Ms Munday.

“The Saputo members fight for mainland pay parity has struck a chord with workers across our state, too many of whom have known for years that employers are paying us less than workers doing similar jobs on the mainland just because they can.”

“We’ve seen public and private sector workers in areas including child safety, pharmacy, radiography, and utilities taking union action in support of mainland wages in recent days and weeks. Tasmanian workers are sick of being undervalued and have decided enough is enough.”

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