Woolworths has urged the Federal Government to modernise and simplify provisions in the General Retail Industry Award (GRIA).
Woolworths, parent company of discount department store Big W, detailed its position in a submission around the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Bill 2022.
The retail group wants a proactive review to identify opportunities for changes to the GRIA, in partnership with employers, team members and unions.
"The retail industry’s future productivity and prosperity requires an award system that can keep pace with the evolving nature of retail today and into the future," Woolworths stated.
"More than 156,000 of our team are employed across 28 separate Enterprise Agreements, using 13 different awards as a baseline. The key underpinning industrial instrument for the majority of our team is the General Retail Industry Award (GRIA).
"We strongly believe the GRIA in particular needs to be modernised so that retail can continue to offer a vibrant and aspirational future career path for the hundreds of thousands of Australians the sector employs.”
Woolworths argued simplification of the GRIA would have “significant benefits” to team members.
This included changes around shift requirements, such as unlocking the ability for team members to work more than one shift per day or a ‘split shift’.
“This is an attractive option during peak trading periods but also more regularly for team members who seek a shift during school hours and then further hours at night,” Woolworths stated in its submission.
“Our retail team can presently only start one shift per day, which means they either need to reduce their overall weekly hours, increase the number of hours they work each day or increase the number of days they work each week, minimising flexibility around other commitments.”
Woolworths also urged the Government to provide further safeguards to single-enterprise bargaining. The group believed current safeguards proposed in the Bill would not prevent those who engage in the single enterprise stream from being affected by “unintended consequences.”
“Multi-enterprise bargaining may be appropriate in some sectors. However, Woolworths is extremely concerned that for the retail sector, it would risk making the system more rigid, reduce flexibility and reduce the opportunity to unlock improved productivity - and in turn, sustainable wage growth - compared with single enterprise bargaining.
“Single enterprise bargaining is the mechanism through which improved productivity is unlocked and innovation is delivered to better serve our customers.”
In 2020, Woolworths chairman Gordon Cairns apologised for a $500 million staff wages underpayment scandal, citing the "out of control" industrial award system was partly to blame.
Woolworths joined Sunglass Hut, Coles, Wesfarmers, Qantas, M.J.Bale Super Retail Group and a number of major retailers in fielding underpayment cases over 2019/2020.