After consultation the company had introduced a new tier of store leadership.
But First Union national retail secretary Rudd Hughes said for workers at Woolworths, the result would be “absolutely immiserating”.
“Imagine you’ve worked for your local Woolworths in a specialist role and reached a senior pay band after 20 years on the shop floor - now, many will be back to square one and facing significant financial hardship as a result of the restructure,” Hughes said.
“Woolworths have the right to pursue a restructure on their own business grounds, but they have not taken on board the most important concerns of workers and are pushing to the same conclusion they’ve always sought - reduced operating costs.”
He said that just a few years ago, the business was praising its workers for how they handled the pressure during the pandemic as essential workers.
Pay cuts
Hughes said the wide-ranging restructure would see the disestablishment of department management and duty supervisor roles.
Staff currently working in those roles could suffer pay cuts and lose hours as a result of their re-employment under newly created roles, and Hughes said many were considering redundancy.
He said that more than 4400 Workers First Union members would be impacted by the proposal in one way or another.
“A bakery or butchery manager will potentially face a decrease of about $15,000 to $17,300 per year, while other department managers will face average pay decreases ranging from nearly $10,000 to $11,700 per year under this proposal.
“While some people in those roles will opt for redundancy, it’s not a viable option in smaller or more remote regions without comparable jobs on offer.”
A Woolworths worker whose role is being disestablished told First Union staff at their store were “upset and angry”.
“We have a lot of long-serving butchers and bakers across the country - I know that many of them will be leaving rather than taking a massive pay cut to stay in the job,” they said.
“Meanwhile, they’re making big capital investments in new land and stores, and it feels like this restructure is being done to save money after a very expensive rebranding.”
Woolworths plans to pilot the new operating model in its upper North Island stores from late May, with consultation on the new pilot to begin shortly.
The supermarket’s current priority is working with its team to support them to transition into the new roles.
Woolworths will be investing $6.6 million in training and upskilling team members.
Hughes said that Workers First Union would continue to engage constructively with Woolworths over several remaining issues related to the restructure and would be supporting individual union members through any redeployment or redundancy process.
Store closures
Separate from the restructured model, Woolworths also announced the planned closure of the Blockhouse Bay and Māngere Mall stores.
The Woolworths spokesperson said the leases for both of these stores would end later this year.
“This is driven by declining customer demand locally, and considering the ongoing tough economic environment, we believe the most responsible path forward is to consolidate in these areas.”
The Blockhouse Bay and Māngere Mall teams have been told to make sure they understand all of their options for continuing their careers through redeployment in nearby stores.
There are more than 70 workers likely to be affected, with the number set to lose their jobs still to be determined.
The Blockhouse Bay store will close in November and the Māngere Mall store in September.
“Our absolute focus is supporting our hardworking team through these changes, and on giving our customers more value, convenience and a fantastic shopping experience - and we’re committed to getting on with that.”
Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business, retail and tourism.
