The restructure of Woolworths supermarkets, announced to staff by the company today following a consultation period, will result in a reduction in income for thousands of experienced workers and should not go ahead in its current form, Workers First Union said today.

The wide-ranging restructure, which the company claims is being adopted to improve the customer experience in Woolworths supermarkets, will entail the disestablishment of all department management and duty supervisor roles. Rudd Hughes, Workers First national retail secretary, said 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 many were considering redundancy. Over 4,400 Workers First Union members would be impacted by the redundancy proposal in one way or another, he said.

"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," said Mr Hughes.

"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."

"For those people, it could be absolutely immiserating. Imagine you’ve worked for your local Woolworths in a specialist role and reached a senior pay band after twenty years on the shop floor - now, many will be back to square one and facing significant financial hardship as a result of the restructure."

One Woolworths worker whose role is being disestablished - speaking anonymously due to company restrictions - said staff at their store were "upset and angry" about the restructure plans.

"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.

"We’re losing tons of experience in these positions, and I think customers will inevitably notice the difference in our products."

"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."

Mr Hughes said the union was calling for Woolworths to protect the existing pay and conditions of staff in roles due for disestablishment; a practice sometimes referred to as "grandparenting", where existing rates of pay would remain until such a role is re-filled following retirement or resignation.

"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," said Mr Hughes.

"Less than five years ago, we were calling essential workers heroes and lauding their sacrifices for the collective good during a global pandemic."

"The very least Woolworths could do is to recognise their skills and experience and protect their incomes during an incoming global recession."

Mr 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.

© Scoop Media