Staff at Woolworths’ Customer Care Contact Centre have launched strike action, walking off the job in a dispute over pay and working conditions.
The workers stopped work for three hours, from 11 am to 2 pm, signalling growing frustration with ongoing negotiations.
The industrial action affects employees who handle online orders, customer inquiries, and support services, potentially causing delays for customers seeking assistance during the strike. Union representatives said the dispute centres on fair pay, manageable workloads, staffing levels, and job security.
“We’ve negotiated positively in good faith but have grown increasingly tired of seeing our valid issues and members’ priority claims ignored and dismissed by a company that doesn’t appear to value its Contact Centre workers,” said Elle Sun-Min Park, Workers First Union organiser.
Woolworths has not issued an immediate comment. Last year, Woolworths New Zealand agreed to increase the wages of its workers by about 6.8 per cent over two years in a signed collective agreement.
The Contact Centre has also recently undergone a major restructure in August, and similar roles reporting to Australian managers have been advertised in Manila, Philippines, raising concerns about potential outsourcing.
“We’re seeking written assurances in our settlement that New Zealand workers won’t lose their roles to cheap international outsourcing, as a section of their Australian contact centre already have been,” said Park.
“Otherwise, workers will be negotiating themselves out of jobs and bargaining with a gun to our heads – it’s not acceptable.”
