Industry News

It’s under wraps but Woolworths is putting the finishing touches on a new supermarket concept that’s like nothing customers will have seen before. Benedict Brook@BenedictBrooknews.com.au NOVEMBER 1, 2019 Woolworths is currently trialling technology that will allow you to scan and pay for items using just your smartphone. EXCLUSIVE If your usual idea of a Woolworths is a large store with multitudes of aisles, a deli, and a liquor store to the left as you leave, you may need to think again. Woolworths is putting the finishing touches to a new concept store that is so tiny it has only a single aisle. About 40 times more compact than a usual store, Australia’s smallest ever Woolworths has been shoe-horned into the site of a former coffee shop at the bottom of an office block. The store will also be Woolies’ first ever completely cashless store – with no notes or coins…

Frank Chung@franks_chung NOVEMBER 1, 2019 news.com.au Subway has cancelled its popular buy-one-get-one-free World Sandwich Day promotion today after pleas from struggling franchisees. Subway has cancelled its popular buy-one-get-one-free World Sandwich Day promotion today, reportedly after pleas from already struggling franchisees about the impact on their bottom line. In previous years, franchisees were required to provide free sandwiches and in return Subway waived their royalties for the day and provided some supplier discounts, The Sydney Morning Herald reports. Subway’s country director for Australia and New Zealand, Chris Churchmichael, announced the cancellation this year, saying in a notice obtained by the newspaper that the company had “been receiving feedback from our franchise owner community about the campaign”. Instead, Mr Churchmichael said Subway would cancel the giveaway but would maintain its donation of 50 cents from each sandwich sold to Foodbank Australia. A Subway spokeswoman justified the change by saying more than one…

Sue Mitchell Oct 31, 2019 AFR Woolworths’ annual wage costs will rise by $20 million to $30 million a year as Australia’s largest retailer rectifies underpayments to thousands of salaried staff, analysts say. This is on top of an estimated $100 million to $150 million increase in wage costs from a new enterprise agreement and will offset about $55 million in wage savings from a new store operating model and job cuts at the head office. Woolworths also faces a $200 million to $300 million hit to bottom-line profits this year after revealing on Wednesday it had underpaid at least 5700 salaried store staff, including store managers, category managers, department managers and nightfill managers in its supermarkets and convenience stores over as many as nine years. Woolworths has promised to repay staff their full entitlements, including interest and superannuation, assuming the problem dates back as far as 2010, when the…

@EwinHannan OCTOBER 31, 2019 The Australian Attorney-General Christian Porter has declared Woolworths’ record $300 million underpayment of employees as “beyond hopeless”, backing criticism the company’s conduct was emblematic of employers caring only about the interests of shareholders and making staff their least priority. Mr Porter, who is also the Industrial Relations Minister, warned employers had “rocks in their heads” if they were not focused on wage compliance given the government was devising legislation to criminalise “large, repetitive, knowing underpayments of wages”. Mr Porter said he received a briefing from a senior Woolworths executive on Wednesday, who confirmed the uncovering of the biggest underpayment on record was triggered by night-fill managers at the company’s supermarkets finding out crew members they supervised to stack shelves were getting paid more than them. “They are completely acknowledging that they have made a very, very serious error,” he told 6PR’s Gareth Parker in Perth on…

We wrote to retail industry bodies on 24 May 2019 about the upcoming requirements for NSW retailers in relation to the NSW Container Deposit Scheme, Return and Earn. I am writing again to clarify retailer obligations under the Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Act 2001, to let you know about some ways retailers can comply with these obligations, and to explain the Department’s compliance approach following 1 December 2019 when these obligations take effect.  Retailers are obliged to ensure eligible containers have the refund mark By 1 December 2019 – two years after the launch of the Return and Earn scheme – all eligible drink containers sold in NSW will be required to have a refund mark stating: “10c refund at collection depots/points in participating State/Territory of purchase” Suppliers (including retailers) who sell containers that do not show the refund marking in accordance with the regulations may face minimum fines…

EWIN HANNAN OCTOBER 31, 2019 The Australian The uncovering of the nation’s biggest underpayment scandal was not triggered by a crack team of forensic accountants but by night-fill managers at Woolworths supermarkets finding out crew members they supervised to stack shelves were getting paid more than them. The non-union managers were employed on annualised salaries with an average pay of $73,000 but, in January, unionised junior staff became the beneficiaries of higher pay rates in a newly negotiated enterprise agreement. Managers at three different stores, alarmed at their discovery, fired off queries to their bosses. According to Woolworths, it was only after they investigated further that it realised it had a big problem. It had set annualised salaries at a level designed to cover ordinary hours and reasonable overtime on a typical roster. Managers were supposed to be paid comfortably over the award rate of pay, but the annualised wage…