The Warehouse 'may make staff do 10-hour day'

Retail staff at The Warehouse could be forced to work 10-hour days and 50-hour weeks under a deal proposed by the company, the National Distribution Union says.

The union has organised stopwork meetings in Wellington, Christchurch and other centres this week in protest at the deal and roster changes introduced this year.

Union organiser Simon Oosterman said the company had offered staff in the union two deals in contract negotiations.

One was a seven-month agreement that was "exactly the same" as the existing contract.

The other was a three-year deal that offered wage rises consistent with increases in the consumer price index and gave the company the right to extend and change staff hours during "peak periods" without consultation, he said.

The average hourly rate for retail staff at The Warehouse was $13-$14.

"They can increase people's hours up to 10 hours a day or 50 hours a week and they want to remove the existing rights of staff to challenge those changes. People have their own personal lives to work around. It's very anti-family."

The Warehouse currently had to ask for volunteers to work more hours and take into account personal circumstances. Staff could challenge roster changes.

The retailer had revised staff rosters earlier this year in a bid to cut costs, moving some workers from day to night shifts and requiring them to work at the weekend, Mr Oosterman said. Staff had quit as a result and were not replaced, and remaining staff had become overworked and stressed.

Randal Grice, union delegate for The Warehouse in Lyall Bay, said the rosters had caused major disruptions for staff, particularly those with families, and the proposed changes would make it worse.

"We've had staff... crying because they're worried about how it's going to affect their lifestyle."

Mr Grice said after talking to The Dominion Post he was approached by his manager, who told him he was not allowed to talk to media, and doing so could result in dismissal.

Union spokesman Bill Bradford said this was incorrect and he was entitled to talk to the media as it was part of industrial action. "Whenever people try and raise problems [with The Warehouse] they get bullied into submission."

Mr Oosterman said the union wanted The Warehouse to compensate staff for the extra workload, bring more staff on over the busy Christmas period and negotiate a new agreement next year.

About 2000 Warehouse staff belonged to the union, but 800 were also members of the company's union and bound by its agreements.

The Warehouse operations general manager Karl Parker said he could not legally comment during contract negotiations and was surprised the union had done so.

The company had begun a project 18 months ago to realign staff hours with peak shopping times. Total hours worked by staff had not changed but their shifts had with their agreement, he said.

About 2000 extra staff would be brought in over Christmas.

The union had made it clear some staff felt overworked and "we're quite keen to get back to the negotiating table to research that further".

The Warehouse has about 5000 staff.

- © Fairfax NZ News