Australian workers at two Cadbury chocolate facilities in Melbourne owned by Mondelez International have agreed to strike over employment contracts and pay.

The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) said almost 360 staff will begin the strike action tomorrow (17 September) until early Saturday morning, and will also refuse to work any overtime until Monday “in their call for secure jobs, and better pay and conditions”.

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A key issue for staff is having the right to convert from casual to permanent roles after six months service, a plight made worse by the Covid-19 pandemic in terms of job insecurity, the AMWU said. Some Cadbury employees have been in casual roles for up to ten years, and the “global confectionery giant [is] refusing to make them permanent”, it added.

“The Federal Government has systematically made jobs less secure award by award as part of its sweeping industrial relations reforms,” the union said in a statement. “This is backed by employers using insecure work to stop workers joining a union, working collectively to organise for better conditions at work and stopping us from pushing for improved safety at work.”

Tony Mavromatis, AMWU’s state secretary for Victoria, said: “Cadbury workers are on strike today to demand secure jobs and better pay and conditions.

“Cadbury workers have kept us stocked up with chocolate during the pandemic but Cadbury haven’t been sweet to their workers. “These workers aren’t asking for the whole block, they just want their piece.”

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Mondelez, meanwhile, said it had offered a pay increase to workers at the sites, confirmed as located in Melbourne, Victoria, in the suburbs of Ringwood and Scoresby. No mention was made of the dispute over contracts in a statement provided to Just Food.

“Despite significant increased business costs associated with the management of Covid-19 and disrupted supply chains, we are offering workers a 9.75% wage increase over four years,” an international spokesperson for Mondelez said.

“We believe the wage increase is fair and reasonable in light of ongoing economic challenges, and a desire to ensure sustainable local manufacturing in Australia.”

The spokesperson assured there would be no disruption to supply of Cadbury chocolate in Australia as a result of the strike action.

AMWU national secretary Steve Murphy added: “Cadbury workers who’ve helped the company’s sales boom during a pandemic deserve secure jobs – jobs they can count on. Workers at Cadbury are standing together so that every worker is treated with dignity and can feel secure at work.”