Strike restricts grocery stocks

It is likely the 700 Countdown distribution workers will continue to strike today, First Union says.

Some of the supermarket’s shelves across the country have been stripped bare as product movement stalls. The workers have been on strike since midnight on Tuesday, after the supermarket chain declined to offer pay increases in line with the consumer price index during bargaining for a new collective agreement.

The strike was set to end at midnight yesterday but First Union spokesman Jared Abbott said that was now unlikely.

‘‘Members will be having discussions but I think it is quite likely that the strike will extend out beyond midnight tonight,’’ he said yesterday. There was anger among the workers, who felt they were not being listened to by the company, he said.

‘‘For them to tell their workers that it is unreasonable for them to expect to keep up with the cost of living is really quite insulting. They keep saying asking for a cost of living increase is unreasonable when it is literally a third of the company’s increased profits for the year,’’ Abbott said.

Earlier in the week, a Countdown spokeswoman warned there would be stock delays in store and online over the next few days and possibly weeks.

Supermarket shelves, particularly in the upper North Island, had been left bare, and night-fill staff had been sent home owing to a lack of work, he said.

The Countdown spokeswoman said there was no update on the negotiations.

‘‘We don’t have anything to update at this stage other than we are continuing to negotiate with union representatives to reach a fair agreement,’’ she said.