XXXX brewery technicians will walk off the job tomorrow for a fifth time in five weeks, taking longer strike action to march to a community rally at Suncorp Stadium.
Hundreds of supporters are expected to attend the rally which is being held at the Wally Lewis Statue before the Broncos, sponsored by XXXX, play a home game.
United Voice will be handing out signs to supporters and have mobile billboards circling the stadium.
United Voice Queensland spokesperson Damien Davie said: “XXXX is a major sponsor of the Broncos, and I don’t think Broncos fans will be too pleased with how XXXX is treating their workers.”
The union continues to claim Lion is planning to sell off its Milton brewery site, which is within a 100 metres of Suncorp Stadium.
Lion has repeatedly assured workers the plant will remain open. Brewery director Irene Bell said: “We are proud of our long history of creating a great working environment, and the pay of our permanent workforce is not in question.”
Davie said: “XXXX management don’t want us telling Queenslanders the truth about what their plans are for the brewery and for staff. They are also trying to stop workers from picketing at the brewery.”
In an earlier statement, Bell noted: “Our team has extremely well-paid jobs with great conditions, and pay is not in question at all as part of these negotiations.
“Everyone in the Brewery can also get more than 50 free cartons of XXXX Gold a year, to share with friends and family. We’re proud of our long history of creating a great working environment.
“In response to continued Union claims about the Brewery’s future, let me say again: XXXX was born here, it’s brewed here and the Brewery’s not going anywhere.
“The Union regularly asks what team XXXX is on, but time and time again our brewers hear about their baseless claims first via the media – maybe the Union should be asking themselves that same question?
“We see plenty of proposals from developers about the Brewery, and anything that would affect brewing gets dismissed. We’ve even had our rights to brew at Milton enshrined in state law.
“We simply want to be able to use additional Queensland contractors when there’s a need. We do this at our breweries in other states, where the Unions have accepted their use in those agreements. Contractors are used to cover different scenarios including sick leave, long service leave or cover for fluctuations in market demand. Any contractors will get the same rates as our permanent employees.
“Summer before last we had to stop the production line 23 times because of sick leave, long service leave and other types of leave. Using contractors helps us at short notice, and those contractors will receive the same rates as our permanent employees.”
