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Talks fail to resolve pay dispute at Australia sugar producer Wilmar

Reuters SG
·1-min read

CANBERRA, May 23 (Reuters) - Australia's largest sugar producer Wilmar Sugar said talks this week had failed to resolve a pay dispute with workers, with industrial action continuing on Thursday, delaying the start of cane processing at its factories.

A spokesman for Wilmar Sugar and Renewables said there had been good progress on some issues after five hours of negotiations on Wednesday but that the dispute was not yet resolved.

Strikes planned for Thursday by the Australian Workers' Union went ahead.

"Unfortunately, Wilmar's unwillingness to compromise means that the Thursday strike went ahead with vigour and we are escalating industrial action across the board," AWU Northern District Secretary Jim Wilson said.

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Wilmar Sugar, owned by Singapore-based Wilmar International , has eight sugar mills in Australia's Queensland state that run 24 hours a day during the cane crushing season from June to November.

The company says it crushes about 15 million metric tons of sugarcane each year, producing over two million tons of raw sugar, or more than half of Australia's total.

Australia is a major exporter of sugar, shipping most of its production overseas.

Wilmar has said work stoppages and other industrial action have meant it has been unable to complete the preparatory work necessary to meet its scheduled start dates for the cane crushing season. (Reporting by Peter Hobson, Writing by Nigel Hunt; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)