Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the Arts) Share this | Hansard source

I rise in support of the United Workers Union members at General Mills in Rooty Hill. Last Saturday, I stood with those workers outside the General Mills plant with the member for Chifley. The workers, who are trying to get a new enterprise agreement, are in a situation where, after long careers without ever having to take industrial action, have a company that, off the back of a bumper year, is refusing to offer them more than just over one per cent as a pay increase. This is a company that provides a whole lot of products that were bought in binge-buying in supermarkets last year, that had one of the most profitable years it will ever have and that had workers, at the height of the pandemic, turning up every day, making sure there was food for Australians. And yet, when it comes to sharing any of that profit with the workers, it's run a mile.

I asked the workers to put up their hands to show how long they've been there—some more than 10 years, some more than 15. When I got to 25 years, there were still hands up. We're talking about fewer than a hundred people, but they're people who are being ripped off badly by a company that has benefited from its work in this country. These workers deserve better and they should know that we stand with them.

See this speech in context