Hundreds of picketing workers fighting Woolworths for better pay and conditions have delayed a warehouse reopening, leaving supermarket shelves bare.

United Workers Union members picketed the retail giant’s distribution centre in suburban Melbourne on Monday after it announced plans to reopen.

The Dandenong South site is one of several across eastern Australia that have been subject to indefinite industrial action since November 21.

Woolworths announced plans to reopen the Melbourne site on Sunday.

It said that would improve the availability of items such as nappies, toilet paper and drinks on its supermarket shelves.

“We know that there have been shortages on our shelves in some Woolworths stores and that this is really frustrating for our customers,” a company spokesperson said.

“We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience and would like to thank our customers for their understanding and for treating our teams with respect.”

Members standing strong at @woolworths distribution centres.

If you’re wondering why the shelves are empty, it’s b/c of appalling conditions at work.

Cameras everywhere, timing every second of work, pressuring workers all the time. This is an AI algorithms future of work. pic.twitter.com/xxX0pjcLmq

— Luke Hilakari (@lhilakari) November 30, 2024

Woolworths said it would continue to negotiate with the union, and asked for “safe passage for our team wishing to return to work” at the Dandenong South centre.

However, union action on Monday involved turning away a logistics truck and cars being used to block all the centre’s three entrances.

UWU delegates at the scene said workers were protesting against unrealistic performance expectations, which they claimed had led to frequent injuries.

The expectations allocate workers a certain time for a task, then ranks their performance out of 100, something workers say puts undue pressure on them and has a negative impact on wellbeing.

UWU national secretary Tim Kennedy said despite “aggressive US-style industrial relations tactics” it seemed that after 12 days of negotiations Woolworths was showing signs of understanding the workers’ claims.

“Today’s negotiations show Woolworths the way they should be resolving this issue – by talking with and listening to their workers,” he said late on Monday afternoon.

“We are hopeful of a breakthrough because our workers deserve to be safe at work.”

The workers are also demanding better wages and an agreement for equal pay across different sites.

The delegates claim Woolworths intends to close higher-paid warehouses and then open smaller ones and offer less pay.

One union delegate said workers would continue their around-the-clock protest for as long as it took to reach a resolution, with hopes it would happen before Christmas.

He said those on strike weren’t confident, claiming the supermarket giant had planned to bus in workers to the Dandenong South distribution centre on Monday.

“I’ve told my kids that Santa Claus is on strike,” the delegate said.

The disruption has caused supermarket shelves across Melbourne to be left bare, with scenes akin to the Covid-19 pandemic.

One store, on Collingwood’s Smith Street, had most of its toilet paper aisle empty along with large portions of its bread and fridge sections.

Last week, Woolworths insisted all stores were still receiving regular stock deliveries, but some were getting their goods less frequently than previously scheduled.

There were no product limits at the time, except for on eggs. They have been rationed for months following bird flu outbreaks in NSW and Victoria.

-with AAP