Dairy workers will this week vote on a new deal, struck on pay and conditions

The deal brings to a close the largest dairy strike in living memory, after 1400 workers at 13 sites walked off the job for two days, last week.

United Workers Union national secretary Tim Kennedy said most of the workers won a 5 per cent pay rise and improved conditions.

"There is now certainty, in respect to all those sites and companies for the next three years," Mr Kennedy said.

Manufacturers who were affected by the strike action were Saputo Dairy Australia, Fonterra, Lactalis and Peters Ice Cream.

"The focus for us now is how do we start to work, collectively, to make a sustainable dairy industry."

The potential for further action at Fonterra sites was averted, late last week, when the company came back to workers with an improved offer.

Mr Kennedy said milk supply had collapsed since 2019, after poor milk pricing by the major retailers, Coles and Woolworths.

The industry was in crisis, with production crashing from 11 billion litres in 2019 to 8 billion litres now.

There had also been poor decisions made around the former Murray-Goulburn co-operative.

He said workers in the communities where processing plants were operating wanted to see the industry prosper.

"They are worried about it, we did a survey of our members and a quarter were weighing up whether or not they needed to leave these regional communities and find better jobs," he said.

"How do we build a more sustainable, secure dairy sector, and get the message through through to these trans-national corporations it's not enough to take profits out, you need to invest in these communities?"

Workers had a symbiotic relationship with both the communities in which they lived and dairy farmers.

"Without farmers thinking the industry is viable and rebuilding their herds, and without factories and workers, we don't have these regional communities," he said.

It was the first time in 35 years of collective bargaining in the dairy industry that workers felt the need to take action.

"So there is definitely a crisis there," he said

"The workers felt they were not being heard - these new multinational players are not engaging with them, so they felt they had no choice but to take action.

"The fact it has never happened before, does underline this is a crisis."

He called on the parties to work together, "rather than retreat".

'We acknowledge processors' inputs have increased, but they haven't increased to the extent that their profits have increased - we see this across large parts of the economy, it has been an opportunity for major players to fatten thei profits and that's what they have done," he said.

"But you can't do it at the expense of workers."

Mr Kennedy said dairy worker pay rises of up to 14 per cent over three years dwarfed previous company offers as low as 8.25pc before the strike.

"Also importantly, workers have won measures that are important to them and their communities," he said.

"These measures include five days of paid emergency services leave at both Saputo and Fonterra, allowing volunteers to fight natural disasters occurring in their communities."

Fonterra workers will get 5pc in the first year, 4pc in the second and 3pc in the third year of the agreement - up from 10.5pc across the three years before the strike.

The offer also included improved personal leave and shift allowances.

Mr Kennedy said the union was also keen to be a part of efforts to ensure the longer term future of the industry.

"We have been working on longer-term planning about how every player - the dairy farmers, the processors, the community and the workers - can be part of a sustainable dairy industry and make sure the dairy industry remains the heartbeat of regional communities," he said.

"We think part of the answer is making sure multinational companies are listening to their regional communities, and keeping their connections to the local farming industry.

"To do that, we also think it's important to ensure the price of milk remains fair, and that means challenging the power of the big supermarket duopoly to set low prices when milk supply is high.

"We are also calling on the federal and state governments to include our voice at the table when major issues relating to the dairy industry are considered."