General Mills Workers Speak Out: “Be Strong, Fight for Your Rights, and Fight for a Decent Pay Raise”
Despite making record profits in 2020, multinational food manufacturer General Mills claims it can’t afford a modest pay raise for workers at its New South Wales plant. Sick of being disrespected, the workers have gone on strike.
Workers at the General Mills factory in Rooty Hill, New South Wales are on strike to fight for a better pay raise. (General Mills / Flickr)
On June 4, I went on strike alongside almost ninety of my colleagues who are members of the United Workers Union. We work at the General Mills factory in Rooty Hill, New South Wales and we are out to win a fair pay raise.
We have been negotiating for almost six months. The company still wants to cut our conditions, reducing the redundancy provisions we won in our last agreement. In return, they are offering a pay raise over three years of 2 percent in the first year, and 1.25 percent in the two years after that.
Union members felt this was totally unfair, and we are asking for 3 percent. Given the extra work we did during the pandemic and the record profits that General Mills generated as a result, we agreed that our demand was fair. When the company refused, everyone was ready to take industrial action.
This article is for subscribers only. Please login or subscribe to access our full archives and beautiful print and digital magazine starting at just $3 a month.