Labour Hire Epping, Thomastown and Lalor

Bluestone Labour Group supplies pick packers, storepersons, forklift and order picker operators and food production hands to warehouses, cool stores and food plants in Epping, Thomastown and Lalor. Below is the work we see here, the roles that fit it and how a booking works.

All three suburbs sit in the City of Whittlesea, with Merri Creek as the boundary to the Campbellfield and Somerton manufacturing belt in Hume, which has its own page. The work on this side is shaped by food. The Melbourne Market at Epping, the wholesale fruit, vegetable and flower market for the state, moved here from West Melbourne in 2015 and trades from 3.30am on weekdays, with warehousing on the market site and cool stores around it working to its clock. North of Cooper Street, the newer estates towards O'Herns Road carry large distribution buildings, while Thomastown's older industrial streets hold food manufacturing, metal fabrication and wholesale trade.

Roles

What sites in Epping and Thomastown ask for

Warehouse and food roles, matched to the shift pattern the site already runs.

Pick packers and storepersons

Order picking, packing, receival and put away for produce distributors, grocery suppliers and the distribution buildings along Cooper Street. RF scanning experience where the site runs it.

Forklift and order picker operators

LF holders for counterbalance work on the dock and LO holders for order pickers in the racking. We match the licence class to the machines on your floor before anyone is offered.

Reach truck operators

For high bay racking in the newer distribution buildings, where time on a reach truck counts as much as the licence.

Food production hands

Process, packing and line hands for the food manufacturers through Thomastown and Epping, asked about hygiene inductions, gowning and allergen rules before the placement.

Despatch, stock control and leading hands

Despatch coordinators, stock controllers and leading hands for sites that need someone to run the dock or the stock count, not only work on it.

Forklift operator moving a pallet of cartons at a warehouse loading dock

Coverage

Suburbs we cover from here

Not an exhaustive list. If your site is nearby and not named, ask.

Epping

Cooper Street and the Melbourne Market

Thomastown

Food, fabrication and wholesale trade

Lalor

Wollert

Mill Park

Bundoora

Local demand

The work we see in Epping and Thomastown

Produce wholesale and distribution around the Melbourne Market, where trading runs from 3.30am to 7am on weekdays and the warehouse work either side of it starts before dawn, with cold rooms and food safety rules from the first hour.
Cool stores and chilled distribution, where a shift moves between ambient docks and chiller or freezer rooms, and the award cold work allowance applies where the temperature calls for it.
Large format distribution in the Cooper Street and O'Herns Road estates, part of the state significant northern industrial precinct, working to pick rates, dispatch cut offs and a peak that builds late in the year.
Food manufacturing, metal fabrication and wholesale trade through Thomastown, an industrial area of around 1,800 businesses by the council's count, much of it on two shifts.

Bluestone Labour Group holds Victorian Labour Hire Licence VICLHL11535. In Victoria a host business must use a licensed labour hire provider, and you can check our licence on the Labour Hire Authority register before you book.

Engagement

How we staff early starts and cold rooms

Warehouse and production work is rostered, directed and supervised by you, so every worker we place here is a casual employee on our payroll. Warehouse roles are engaged under the Storage Services and Wholesale Award 2020 at the classification that matches the duties, and production roles under the award that covers the work. We pay the wages, superannuation and WorkCover, and you receive one weekly invoice built from the timesheets your supervisor approves.

Before anyone is offered to you we check their right to work, sight their High Risk Work Licence where the role needs one and confirm the class matches your machines, and ask about cold room and food handling experience if your site needs it. Your site induction, food safety training and any machine specific sign off stay with you, because they have to happen on your floor.

Early starts are where reliability breaks first. Tell us exactly when the shift begins, and we only put forward people who can get to Epping or Thomastown for that time under their own steam. Give us as much notice as you can, particularly for ticketed roles or a whole new shift. If we cannot cover a request we will say so, rather than send someone who does not fit. There is no sign up fee and no lock in contract.

Questions

Frequently asked questions

Yes. We supply pick packers, storepersons, forklift and order picker operators and reach truck operators to warehouses, cool stores and produce distributors in Epping, Thomastown, Lalor and Wollert. Tell us about cold room work and any food safety rules when you book, so we only put forward people who suit them.

We recruit for the start time rather than asking day workers to stretch to it. Tell us when the shift begins, how long it runs and how many days a week, and we only offer people who can reliably reach the site for that start. Ticketed roles at very early hours need the most notice.

An LF licence covers counterbalance forklifts and reach trucks. An order picker that raises the operator with the load needs an LO licence, and an LF holder cannot legally drive one. Our guide to forklift licence classes sets out which machine needs which class.

Casual employees on our payroll under the relevant award, with superannuation and WorkCover from their first shift. We do not place warehouse or production workers as ABN contractors.

Other areas

Nearby areas we cover

All areas we serve · How we work with host employers

Guides: staffing a cold storage warehouse and labour hire for food production lines.

Labour hire in Epping, Thomastown and Lalor