A small group of workers in Melbourne has had a big win. After six weeks outside the gates, 30 Super A-Mart warehouse workers have gone back to work with an enterprise agreement. They are the first warehouse in the company’s history to wrestle an above-award agreement out of their boss, who boasts about running “a minimum wage company”.

As part of the agreement, the workers, members of the National Union of Workers, have won a 10 percent pay rise over three years, a $750 sign-on bonus, a casuals’ conversion clause, improved redundancy entitlements, an OH&S committee and union rights. 

“I’m just so proud”, said Craig Carlton, speaking to Red Flag at the union victory party held at the MUA’s West Melbourne hall. Craig says he’s been a lifelong union member and has been involved in one strike before this dispute – three weeks out at a Franklins supermarket distribution centre 15 years ago. Having been on strike before helped him this time around, he said, and others looked to him for guidance.

Many of the other workers now celebrating their win had no history of unionism before the dispute. “The ones I thought were going to pull out and not be in the union were the ones that … really impressed me the most”, Craig says.

Vaea Tuuu, now a delegate, had never been in a union prior to the lead-up to the dispute. Joining up was a “leap of faith”, he said. Months later: “I stuck my hand up [to be a delegate] because I’ve developed a confidence of being able to stand up in front of people and say what I have to say”, he explained.

The resolve of the group was evident throughout the dispute. After an initial employer lockout was lifted, the workers voted to stay out – not locked out, on strike and on their own terms.

They also got creative, keeping busy over the six weeks with protests outside Super A-Mart stores and companies linked to Quadrant Private Equity, the parent company of Super A-Mart. The union organised a “Low Wage Bus Tour” to Canberra and Sydney, where the workers confronted Quadrant CEO Chris Hadley.

“They [the company] would have thought that a few of the boys in the union would have folded due to their large families … but when we rocked up five weeks later to Sydney, they saw that these boys aren’t giving up at all, they’re going to keep fighting until they get what they want”, Vaea said. “And that’s what happened; we won – look who’s laughing now.”

The sense of strength derived from acting collectively is evident in nearly every conversation at the union party. “We’re like brothers”, Craig told me. Not only is the bond between the Super A-Mart workers stronger than ever, but the importance of solidarity between different groups of workers was clear throughout the dispute.

Donations flowed in, supporters passed by the picket and joined the workers in protest. “Everyone was blown away with the support from other union sites, out of their own pockets”, said Craig.

Not only have the workers won improved pay and conditions, but Chad Wyatt, the other workplace delegate, describes experiencing a “massive power shift” since they went back to work. “Before, there was a lot of bullying and intimidation aimed at workers … [the company] was playing the carrot and stick but never offering the carrot and so guys were getting screwed over.”

Now things have changed. “Management are trying to sweet talk us, they’re our best friend, they’re joking with us, you know, arms around the shoulders … The scabs have come up to us shaking the guys’ hands, saying how proud they are of us for winning … It’s amazing to see ... it reinforces the significance of what we were able to achieve.”

Vaea said that when the scabs challenged him on what they had won, he bluntly told them: “If you had been out there with us, we could have got more.” All they could do was hang their heads in shame and agree, he recounted. 

Chad summed up the dispute simply: “Your options are stick with what you’ve got or get better.” The Super A-Mart workers certainly got better. They’ve shown that there’s no such thing as a “minimum wage company”. If you fight, you can always get better.

As for what now, Craig says, “It’s only going to get better.” Vaea predicts more picket lines: “We know what it’s like to be out there and to have people supporting us, donating and everything like that; we’ll be doing the same for everyone else. Everyone now that’s going on strike, we’ll be doing the same thing, we’ll be supporting them, we’ll be rocking up to their picket line.”