Union victory at Heinz Golden Circle plant in Melbourne

The dispute at Heinz Golden Circle plant has been resolved. AMWU members returned to work after voting to accept an offer of a 1 year agreement backdated to 10 January. In addition to the Redundancy provisions of the current agreement, the new agreement will provide for a 3% wage increase that will automatically increase the value of all payments, including leave and redundancy payouts by 3%. 

The proposal provides for the notice period 4 or 5 weeks’ pay, a $2700 lump sum closure package, 1 week pay for each year of service as a casual and long service leave to apply from the first day of employment rather than after 5 years. The agreement is signed for one year, which means when Heinz is closing on April 1st, any company which starts squeezing juice on the site after that will have to respect the agreement conditions under the Australian law.