United Workers Union members working at the Mondelez Suttontown facility are up in arms over Enterprise Bargaining Agreement (EBA) negotiations.
Mondelez production and workhouse workers gathered at Frew Park last week and held a 24-hour strike, which included a 24-hour stoppage of the Mondelez factory.
The United Workers Union members are seeking a 5% pay increase and will continue to take further strike action.
United Workers Union official Tasha Linke said they had been bargaining with Mondelez since June and had come to “a bit of a standstill”.
“We have not been making the progress that our workers and our members need to keep up with the cost of living pressures as well as everything else that is coming their way at the moment,” Ms Linke said.
“The main demands that we are still in negotiation over is wages, we are not asking for CPI, we are asking for them to meet us partway so that everyone takes a little bit of a hit, so we are asking for 5%.
“We are also asking for workers to be able to have all of their entitlements paid out on retirement.
“We have a lot of very long-serving employees that have put their lives into this company and they accrue those entitlements, so we would really like to see them pay them when they leave.
“Especially given retirement does not come around every day and it could be the difference, and make a huge difference, to their quality of life when they retire.”
A Mondelez worker who attended the strike, who asked to remain anonymous, said negotiations with the company had been taking place for quite some time.
“We have taken some action to try and help enforce our rights as such and we are looking for a fair deal from the company,” the member said.
“People are seeing the CPI go through the roof, the cost of living, fuel, gas, electricity, everything is going up.
“We are not asking for CPI, but we want a fair deal. We are asking for 5% and the company has said they cannot deliver that.
“We are willing to take a bit of a hit if the company is willing to do the same.
“We are still willing to negotiate and get the deal done for sure.”
Ms Linke said the Mondelez workers were “a great group of workers who deserve so much more”.
“We want the company to listen, we want them to reconsider their position and see that we are serious about taking these steps,” she said.
“Not to go for the highest wage increase possible but just to relieve the pressures these guys are under.
“Cost of living is at the front of everybody’s mind at the moment.
“Workers are starting to feel that impact on their mortgages, their groceries, power increases.
“They worked every day through COVID and they are just asking for a little bit of that back, a bit of recognition for the yards they have put in.”
Mondelez has been contacted for comment.
