This week I’d like to make a personal appeal to readers to take a small step in support of Queensland’s sugarcane industry.
Whether or not you are directly involved in the industry, if you live in a cane-growing region, then the sugarcane industry plays a significant role in your regional economy and the well-being of your local community.
Unfortunately, some of our cane-growing communities are currently being impacted by strike action at their local mills, which is taking a toll on farming families, harvesting contractors, and local businesses.
This action is part of a long-running and increasingly bitter pay dispute between Wilmar Sugar and unions representing workers at the company’s nine Queensland sugar mills in the Burdekin, Herbert River, Plane Creek, and Proserpine districts.
These four districts account for around 50 percent of Queensland’s total sugarcane crop, meaning any significant disruptions to the crush here can have widespread and devastating impacts on the entire Queensland industry.
That’s why I’m asking all readers, regardless of whether or not you live in one of these areas, to please support CANEGROWERS online petition calling on Wilmar and the unions to let the Fair Work Commission decide a fair and reasonable outcome to their dispute.
CANEGROWERS supports the rights of workers to be represented in pay negotiations. And we absolutely support their right to earn a fair and competitive wage for their work.
After all, mill workers are members of our communities, they are our friends, and often our family members.
We also understand that sugar mills are commercial enterprises, and we support mill owners’ rights to operate viable and profitable businesses.
But this dispute has been running for far too long already, and it is taking a significant financial and mental toll on farming families who have no ability to resolve it.
The parties have obviously reached a stalemate, so it’s time for the independent umpire to step in and make a decision that is binding on both sides.
If you care about the sugarcane industry and the regional communities it supports, then please sign and share our petition today.
You can find it online by visiting change.org and searching for CANEGROWERS or visiting our Facebook page.
