The Warehouse outlines restructure plans to employees, warning of up to 750 job losses

July 20, 2020
A general view of The Warehouse signage.

Up to 750 people could lose their job in a restructure proposal at The Warehouse, the company confirmed today.

The retailer held meetings around the country this morning to update staff on its restructure.

Stores opened at a later time of 9am as a result of the meetings.

In a statement, The Warehouse's chief executive Pejman Okhovat said the proposed changes, if implemented, would see a reduction of up to 320 full time equivalent roles or between 500 and 750 team members if part time, fixed term and casual roles are included.

"While there may be a reduction in roles, there will not be any reduction in team member pay, with all The Warehouse team members soon to receive another wage increase under the collective agreement signed last year to move team members to the living wage," Okhovat said.

"As we are proposing a change of rostered hours for these team members. We have now entered into formal consultation. Throughout this phase, team members have the opportunity to submit their availability through an online app and express if they are interested in voluntary redundancy."

First Union general secretary Dennis Maga has slammed the company for using Covid-19 as an excuse for the restructure.

"Unfortunately, The Warehouse have done the disappointing thing and used Covid-19 to justify a bunch of operational business decisions that will leave hundreds of workers without jobs and thousands more with significant reductions to their incomes."

However, Okhovat said the proposal was separate to the three proposed store closures for The Warehouse stores at Dunedin Central, Johnsonville and Whangaparāoa.  Its Dunedin Central store will also be closed to customers but will remain in use as an online fulfillment centre.

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