Warehouse staff to resume industrial action

File photo / Bradley Ambrose

About a quarter of workers at The Warehouse will resume industrial action after talks between the company and the National Distribution Union (NDU) broke down.

Both sides are accusing each other of making unreasonable demands.

NDU Warehouse organiser Simon Oosterman said the company had offered no compensation for huge workloads being undertaken by workers.

"The company says it is worried about the cost of workload compensation but what the workers are asking will cost around half The Warehouse CEO's bonus.

"The company has left it too late to get extra staff for Christmas so workers want compensation for the stress and the way they have been treated through restructuring."

Mr Oosterman said the company finally agreed to a working party to look at key issues but that was a longer term solution.

Industrial action would include go slows, work to rule and also walk outs. They would also be handing out complaint cards to customers to be posted to head office, he said.

The Warehouse blamed the breakdown on the NDU introducing a new monetary claim demanding a one-off payment for its members this Christmas.

"We are disappointed that, after reaching resolutions on matters raised by the NDU last week, their claims have shifted focus and they have introduced a new monetary claim that, despite the best efforts of the independent mediator, we were unable to agree on," said The Warehouse's human resources director Paul Walsh.

"Today, we also offered additional ongoing benefits to our team members, including increases in sick leave and bereavement entitlements, and these offers were rejected by the NDU.

"We feel very let down by the union, as last week they stated their concerns were not monetary, and now they have drastically changed course," he said.

In this year's tough economic environment, many retailers have offered minimal or no pay increases, he said.

The Warehouse said it had awarded a 3 per cent pay increase to all waged employees from August, offering a starting wage of no less than $12.88 per hour and most moving to $14.19 within 12 months.

About 1800 of The Warehouse's 7500 in-store team members are NDU members. There are 86 stores around the country.

Despite the industrial action, Mr Walsh said it would be business as usual at its stores as it had recruited an additional 1700 staff for Christmas.

- NZPA