Massive change coming to Woolworths – and how it could set a trend in Australia

More than 130,000 Woolworths workers will be entitled to a four-day rota following a landmark deal between the supermarket giant and unions.

Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association supported the proposal that would give employees the option to work their 38-hour week in four 9.5-hour shifts.

The changes will be added to Woolworths’ new enterprise agreement when it is voted on by employees in the coming weeks.

Because weekends are the supermarket’s busiest days, employees will have to work up to four weekend shifts per month.

The proposal will impact Woolworths’ 130,000 employees, who will be offered to work their 38-hour week in four 9.5-hour shifts.

“That could be one weekend shift a week, meaning a Saturday or a Sunday, or it could be two weekends working Saturday and Sunday, and two weekends off,” SDA NSW Secretary Bernie Smith told us. The Australian.

Bunnings agreed last May to trial a four-day working week for full-time employees, with other organizations and smaller companies also experimenting with the change.

The news follows the Fair Work Commission’s approval of a new enterprise agreement at Coles, which will affect 92,000 workers, despite objections from the Retail and Fast Food Workers Union.

The enterprise agreements at Woolworths and Coles have committed the grocers to giving their employees annual pay increases in line with those reported annually by Fair Work.

This approach has already resulted in a wage increase of 23.1 percent since 2018.

Inflation rose by 19 percent in the same period.

The committee agreed with RAFFWU that a provision in Coles’ new enterprise agreement that would allow it to unilaterally change the working hours and days of part-time employees could be harmful.

However, it acknowledged that the agreement would also give part-time employees a qualified right to request additional hours – which can only be refused on reasonable business grounds.

Fair Work found that the agreement passed the overall better-off test.

“The agreement provides benefits that are more favorable to employees than those covered by the price, including marginally higher salaries,” the report said.

The news follows Coles’ victory over unions after the Fair Work Commission approved its new enterprise agreement

The Fair Work Commission has also been busy disputing claims by employers through the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry that increasing wages faster than inflation would discourage incentives.[ise] business negotiations’.

‘Does ACCI have evidence to show that keeping Modern Compensation wage growth lower than average wage growth is an incentive for inter-company bargaining?’ the committee asked.

The committee also disputed the ACCI’s claim that a panel of experts consistently awarded increases in the minimum wage and modern incentive wages that exceeded growth in inflation and the wage price index.

Daily Mail Australia contacted Woolworths for comment.

The four-day working week is a global push to change long-entrenched working hours, with success already seen in other countries such as Sweden, Spain and Belgium.

Organizations such as Oxfam and Unilever have already trialled the shortened working week in Australia, while accounting firm Findex and accountancy firm Grant Thornton introduced nine-day fortnights.