Foster's is dedicated to renewing a 19 year-old collective agreement with its 280-strong workforce at Queensland's Yatala brewery.
The Yatala site has had Collective Agreements since it commenced operating 19 years ago. These have always been Employee Collective Agreements negotiated in good faith between the company and an employee Consultative Committee.
"Foster's does not want to change the type of Agreement that has always been in effect at Yatala - and has been so successful," General Manager Yatala, Mr Noel Jago, said.
"We are simply looking for a renewal of the Agreement with its workforce - and are negotiating in good faith to reach a suitable outcome."
Mr Jago said that Foster's Yatala employees have always been free to join relevant unions if they so desire and are able to have union officials represent them in the enterprise bargaining process or at any time.
"However, the unions have issued us with an ultimatum that they will only participate in the bargaining process if the outcome is a Union Collective agreement, that is, an agreement between Foster's and the various unions," he said.
"Our position is that we would always prefer to have a direct agreement with our workers - as we have since our inception.
"Accordingly, we would like to see the focus of negotiations return to the offer on the table, which is highly competitive.
"Unfortunately the unions appear to view this routine negotiation as an opportunity to highlight their concerns around Australia's new industrial relations laws.
"We remain committed to the process that has served us so well in the past and delivered our workforce positive outcomes. We are hopeful of resolving the situation and reaching agreement as soon as possible," he said.
Further information:
Media
Brenda Walker
Tel: 0413 943 012
Troy Hey
Tel: +61 3 9633 2085
Mob: +61 409 709 126
Investors
Chris Knorr
Tel: +61 3 9633 2685
Mob: +61 417 033 623
