The two-day strike will be followed by another next week.
United Workers Union food and beverage lead Tom Czech said workers resolved to continue striking until presented with a fair offer.
‘‘SunRice, CopRice and AGS workers are ready to keep fighting until they win and will be striking again on February 21, unless the company comes to the table with a fair offer before then,’’ he said.
‘‘United Workers Union and workers’ representatives stand ready to meet with the company to continue negotiations and secure a fair deal.’’
The four per cent pay rise sought by union-affiliated employees roughly translates to a $1 an hour raise.
‘‘SunRice is a company which continues to grow and record profits but is refusing modest wage rises for the very workers who have contributed to its successes,’’ Mr Czech said.
‘‘Throughout the pandemic, these workers have done double shifts and heaps of overtime to process bumper harvests. They are considered essential workers and should be rewarded for their sacrifice, not insulted.’’
The UWU launched the strike after what it said was an “insulting” run-in with SunRice management following eight months of back-and-forth bargaining.
The union alleged SunRice has been attempting to remove certain conditions from the agreement which include: special leave for volunteer firefighters, leave for domestic violence victims and paid time to donate blood.
SunRice has, however, denied the claims.
‘‘We are extremely concerned that it (the union) is seeking to misrepresent SunRice’s proposed offer to employees, including making false claims regarding the removal of certain leave provisions,’’ the company told the tfBannersc Pastoral Timestf$f in a prepared statement earlier this month.
‘‘We advised employees and the UWU weeks ago that existing provisions relating to Emergency Services Leave, Volunteering Leave and Domestic and Family Violence Leave will remain in the proposed Operations Enterprise Agreement.
‘‘The intention was never to remove these conditions as employees would continue to be entitled to these leave provisions under SunRice’s Leave Policy, along with all other SunRice, CopRice and AGS employees that are not covered by an enterprise agreement.’’
In 2021 SunRice reported a $1.03 billion group revenue and a $18.3 million net profit after tax — but SunRice chairman Laurie Arthur described 2021 as a “difficult year”.
‘‘The continuing drought in the Riverina, combined with disruption from COVID-19, set the scene for FY2021,’’ Mr Arthur wrote in the group’s most recent annual report.
‘‘There was minimal Australian paddy to mill and minimal water, at very high prices, to grow rice with.’’
He wrote SunRice had “used our balance sheet strength to continue with our merger and acquisition activity and continued to invest in our operations’’ seeking to reward shareholders and
generate a net profit even during drought.
On the farming front, 2020 was the second smallest Riverina rice crop on record while the 2021 rice crop reached a rough 420,000 paddy tonnes in spite of the very cool summer which reduced yield.
‘‘The CY2021 crop, which is now being processed in our Riverina facilities, is anticipated to mark the end of a difficult cycle for the SunRice Group and set the path for a progressive recovery,’’ Mr Arthur wrote.
‘‘The whole business thrives when Australian rice is plentiful.’’
SunRice is one of the largest rice food companies in the world and one of Australia's leading branded food exporters.
SunRice was contacted for comment but did not respond by the deadline.
