The Warehouse coy on possible Northland job losses

The Warehouse in Kaikohe is among five stores around Northland that could be affected by plans to slash its workforce around New Zealand. Photo / Peter de Graaf

Retail giant The Warehouse is coy on whether there would be job losses at its five Northland branches as part of plans to slash its workforce across the country.

But the First Union said job losses or reduced hours for staff in Northland stores were inevitable as branch managers have the liberty to decide on the size of their workforce.

After early morning meetings of Red Shed staff on Monday, First Union claims the company told those gathered it planned to eliminate 782 roles, plus 137 jobs in store closures around New Zealand.

Northland's The Warehouse branches are in Whangārei, Dargaville, Waipapa, Kaikohe and Kaitaia.

The company plans to close six The Warehouse, Noel Leeming and Warehouse Stationery stores but none are in Northland.

The Warehouse chief operating officer Pejman Okhovat said the meeting centred on proposed rostered hours changes and were not related to changes under way at the store's head office or proosed store closures in Dunedin, Johnsonville and Whangaparaoa.

There would be a reduction of up to 320 fulltime equivalent roles or between 500-750 staff if part-time, fixed term and casual roles were included. The company is not saying where those job losses will be at this stage.

Okhovat said the way the stores operated had remained largely unchanged for years, despite significant changes in the way people shopped,including growth in the online business and customers visiting stores at different times throughout the week.

"To achieve this, we are asking our The Warehouse store team members to help us by reviewing some proposed revised rosters," said Okhovat.

Warehouse management were now consulting with affected staff who would have the opportunity to submit their availability through an online app or opt for voluntary redundancy.

Union media relations officer Rhydian Thomas said although a clear picture on job losses or reduced hours was not forthcoming from the company, staff across all stores up and down the country would be affected in some way.

Dennis Maga, union general secretary, said he would be appealing to The Warehouse bosses to keep staff facing redundancy and redeploy them within the wider group.

Before Monday's meeting, the union accused The Warehouse management of using Covid-19 to justify operational decisions already under review that stand to leave hundreds of workers without jobs and "thousands more" with significantly reduced incomes.

The group's 92 country-wide stores opened at 9am instead of 8am on Monday to allow time for a team meeting to discuss a proposal about how stores operate.