Strike starts to get tense

Sweets are in short supply at an Auckland Foodtown. Picture / Janna Dixon

Violence has broken out on picket lines, with tension rising on the ninth day of the supermarket distribution workers' industrial dispute.

Six hundred workers at supermarket chain Progressive Enterprises' three distribution centres are striking.

In Christchurch early yesterday morning a witness said picketers harassed a worker trying to enter the distribution centre on Colombo St and shook his car.

"I saw another person run around the back of the car and stop it from reversing," the witness said. "As the driver got out of the car they continued to rock and shake the car. They were also shouting."

The worker and the picketers had a conversation and he was allowed to pass, according to the witness.

A Progressive spokeswoman described the Christchurch picket line as "particularly militant".

But National Distribution Union spokeswoman Laila Harre said it was inevitable "tensions will run high" as workers try to keep strikebreakers away from the distribution centres.

"My understanding is that the member was trying to pass information to the person ... the person didn't want to accept the information and drove aggressively in a way that was not provoked by the member."

Talks between the parties had reached an impasse and no date had been set for their resumption, said the Progressive spokeswoman.

The strike, which began on August 25, looks set to slash profits, as the company has offered to cover the extra freight costs for some suppliers.

Forsyth Barr retail analyst Guy Hallwright said the strike could cut the supermarket chain's profits by a third or even a half.

"Bearing in mind supermarkets are operating on a margin of about 4 per cent, it doesn't take a lot of additional costs to eat up a fair bit of your profit," he said.

A Progressive insider said the sales had dropped about 5 per cent since the strike began.

Many Auckland supermarkets had gaps on their shelves yesterday - mainly in teabags, porridge, peanut butter, coffee and toilet paper. But Progressive said supplies were down only 6 per cent on pre-strike levels.

The negotiation round could have huge impacts nationally, said Hallwright. "If the supermarket caves in it's going to be open slather for the unions around the country."