Tuesday, 3 December, 2024
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Soil mound shut down
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Fortunes blowing in the wind Mohammed Balkhi is hoping his stocks in the kite-making trade are about to soar. The Afghan refugee grew up flying home-made kites with friends in the streets of Kabul, and has decided to turn his passion into his livelihood. A popular pastime in his homeland, his colourful kites are designed to “run” and “dance” with the wind rather than to float in static fashion. More on the story, turn to page 10
(Stewart Chambers: 446674)
Strike standoff Union officials cast doubt over Woolworths’ ‘reopening’ of its Dandenong South warehouse, in an attempt to break an 11-day ‘indefinite strike’. About 200 union members formed a picket outside the distribution centre on Monday 2 December. Two-thirds of the distribution centre’s 300 workforce went out on indefinite strike over pay and performance targets on 21 November. Woolworths claimed it was reopening the Dan-
denong South warehouse on Monday 2 December after contacting three-quarters of the workforce. Seventy-two per cent of the contacted employees wanted to return to work and be paid in the lead-up to Christmas, according to Woolworths. However, United Workers Union described the move as “bad faith”. “Breaking a strike at 6am when the Union and Woolworths are set to meet at 9am is just bad faith and nothing more. Fa & st Clea
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“Woolworths should focus on negotiating a fair outcome rather than escalating industrial conflict.” The strikes appeared to bite in the past week, with growing reports of empty supermarket shelves including toilet rolls, nappies and drinks. A Woolworths spokesperson said there was “limited stock flow on some lines”. “We know that there have been shortages on our shelves in some Woolworths stores and that this is
really frustrating for our customers.” The Dandenong South warehouse is described by Woolworths as the most significant of the four hit by United Workers Union strike action in Victoria and NSW. It stores and distributes about 2 million cartons of ambient goods each week. More on the story, turn to page 3
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