Thousands of Woolworths warehouse workers have won substantial wage increases, defying the recent trend of sickly wages growth, by using the old-fashioned method of threatening a pre-Christmas strike.

More than 2000 workers in Victoria and NSW have won wage increases of about 4 per cent a year – twice the national average – and vastly improved redundancy pay.

Workers Mahani Mohd Tif and Vince Tropea have won better pay and conditions. Credit:Simon Schluter

The workers had voted to strike, which would have closed warehouses and hit Woolworths supermarkets and liquor stores in the crucial pre-Christmas trading period.

It comes as Woolworths, in a separate deal, also agreed with the National Union of Workers to a major overhaul of how workers in its supply chain are treated.