Grain terminal workers at CBH's Kwinana terminal have been locked out of their workplace by their employer in response to a cost-of-living wage claim.
Maritime Union of Australia and Electrical Trade Union members from the CBH grain terminal were told at 8:30pm on Sunday night to not attend their shift at 5:30am Monday morning.
The lockout of the entire workforce of 130 workers at the grain terminal came in response to 24 maintenance workers implementing rolling stoppages over 5 days after being informed that they would be paid only 9% of their salary for a full day's work where they only refused to do isolations. Isolations represent less than 10% of their work in any normal workday.
MUA members have been bargaining in good faith with the grain exporting giant since March this year, asking for a modest raise in wages of 6 percent per year.
In response CBH have offered a sub-inflation 2.5 percent increase despite a bumper grain season.
While the 2025 financial figures are yet to be released, CBH recorded a $73.8 million surplus last financial year.
Meanwhile the CBH chairman Simon Stead pocketed $260,000 last financial year representing a 7.3 percent annual increase from 2023 and the CBH chief executive Ben Macnamara's take home went from $811,000 to $876,000 in the same period, representing an 8 percent increase.
MUA WA Branch Secretary Will Tracey said it was unconscionable to strip away people's income with less than 10 hours' notice during a cost-of-living crisis.
"This is an extremely aggressive act of provocation by CBH especially coming on the back of stripping 91% of maintenance workers income when they perform bans representing less than 10% of the work they do on any normal day."
"Locking out the entire workforce of 130 workers off the back of 24 maintenance workers refusing to work when their pay has been cut by over 90% represents the worst of corporate bastardry."
"Corporate fat cats like the CBH CEO playing with people's livelihoods like they're pawns on a chess board is quite frankly disgusting behaviour," Mr Tracey said.
"The workers at CBH have gone above and beyond to support the farming communities in getting their grain out to our export partners and this is how they're treated in response to a modest wage increase request and a refusal to work basically for free."
"It's clear that the industrial relations landscape favours the employers in this instance and yes we know it's a strategy that's CBH's right, but is it moral, is it ethical, is it fair? Locking an entire workforce of 130 out of their workplace because 24 maintenance workers refuse to work for almost nothing is offensive and wrong!"
