THE saga on Murray Goulburn employees striking over a pay dispute continued last week when the dairy co-operative took the issue to the Fair Work Commission.
The basis of the hearing was that MG had claimed the notice provided for the strike by the unions involved - including the Australian Manufacturers Workers Union (AMWU) and the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) - was faulty, with the co-op alleging the description of the proposed industrial action was "too vague".
More than 100 maintenance workers stopped work for an hour last Thursday, after negotiations over an enterprising bargaining agreement failed to reach a conclusion.
The Fair Work Commission hearing was held the same day, and the AMWU decided to withdraw its notice for 'stoppages on the performance of all work for unspecified periods of time'.
MG released a statement soon after saying it was "pleased" the AMWU and ETU had agreed to remove their notice to take unspecified industrial action against the company.
"This is a positive outcome for MG as the company is no longer faced with unspecified periods of industrial action," a statement read.
Peter Mooney, of the ETU, said no representatives from his union attended the hearing because they were not given enough notice.
The ETU then decided it was not going to withdraw its notice - or agree to the resolution.
Up until now, both unions have been acting in unison for their members over pay talks.
But Mr Mooney said the ETU was not going to back down in this instance.
"We feel we are in the right and we haven't done anything wrong," Mr Mooney said.
He said the ban on overtime and callouts was still in place at MG's Victorian dairy factories - and the ETU could still opt to stop work for a period of 24 hours at a time (if required).
"We can still stop work for 24 hours," he said.
"That's certainly on the cards…and something we will be looking at."
The Fair Work Commission issued an interim order against the ETU on Wednesday, and a final decision will be made soon.
Mr Mooney said the order did not stop the union and its member taking other forms of action, particularly because the dispute over the enterprise bargaining agreement had not been resolved.
He said the union was not willing to back down over the issue of redundancy payouts.
"Murray Goulburn wants new employees to receive a significantly smaller redundancy payout compared to existing employees," he added.
"We are not interested in creating two types of employees in this situation…this is a principal issue for us."
MG says it has put a "fair" offer on the table for workers.
"…One which delivers wage increases above inflation, protects current entitlements and supports MG's business to become more sustainable in the future," the statement said.
Mr Mooney said MG had not contacted the union to advance the discussion.
A spokesperson from MG said the co-operative was now awaiting Commission's decision following the hearing, but would not say whether another meeting had been planned to further discuss the bargaining agreement.
"At this stage, Devondale Murray Goulburn's key priority is to protect the business and the interests of its farmers from the impact of the ongoing industrial action, including the unspecified periods of industrial action that we are currently facing from the CEPU," an MG spokesperson said.
"Devondale Murray Goulburn remains open to further discussions with the unions to finalise the agreement."
AMWU said workers would continue the bargaining process across Murray Goulburn sites.
"We hope to sit down again with the company and resolve this as soon as possible," a spokesperson said.
"We are coming up to a critical time in the milk production season, and workers are keen to come to an agreement with management to ensure the season is not interrupted."
