CopRice staff strike in bid for better wage and to retain conditions

"We don't want the world," Mr Leversha said. "We want a fair deal. We work hard and we want to be rewarded for that."

Mr Leversha has worked as a milling technician at the Cobden plant for the past 22 years.

He is one of around 12 staff, from a total of 16 employees, who stopped work on Tuesday and will continue to strike on Wednesday.

They are some of the 330 food workers from CopRice, SunRice and Australian Grain Storage who stopped work across Victoria and New South Wales.

CopRice is the animal food division of Ricegrowers Ltd which trades as SunRice, one of the world's largest rice food companies and branded food exporters.

CopRice manufactures extruded and pelleted feeds for domestic and farm animals at Cobden, Tongala and Leeton.

Mr Leversha said staff were disappointed with management's response to their requests for better pay and to retain conditions, which had been in negotiations for eight months.

He said five months ago the workers usual eight-hour shifts were increased to 12 hours in response to low staffing levels with "the guys doing a fair bit of overtime".

"We've got a great crew and we get out there and get the job done," he said. "There's never been any problem with that or at Cobden at all. If there's work to be done we do it."

He said negotiations were with management based at Leeton and there were no issues at Cobden site level.

A SunRice spokeswoman said since negotiations began SunRice had remained open and willing to meet with the United Workers Union (UWU) to work towards a new agreement. Its aim is to reach a deal that's "beneficial for all parties".

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"We have presented an offer which includes a competitive pay increase and more opportunities for skill development for employees, while creating the flexibility we need to ensure our operations remain viable and sustainable," the spokeswoman said.

"The UWU has maintained a position of seeking a pay increase without any change in conditions contained within the agreement. The UWU has also sought to continue to misrepresent SunRice's position and offer to employees.

"SunRice remains willing and open to further conversations to work towards a new Operations Enterprise Agreement, however we need the UWU to agree on some of the important conditions we are seeking to enable us to remain competitive on a global scale."

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