Woolworths, Coles and Aldi: Supermarkets beg for relief from Covid protocols

Woolworths, Coles and Aldi could begin shutting stores across Melbourne this weekend amid pleas to the Victorian government over staff isolation rules.

Leading supermarket chains Woolworths and Coles could close stores across Melbourne from this weekend amid staff shortages. Picture: AAP

Supermarkets could begin shutting down dozens of stores across Melbourne as early as this weekend as Woolworths, Coles and Aldi plead with the Victorian government to ease isolation rules for staff working at exposed sites.

Woolworths is at risk of closing up to five stores at the weekend, due to staff shortages associated with the isolation requirements with its Coburg store in inner Melbourne closed on Wednesday, while Coles is also fearing that it could also be forced to shutter stores due to shortages in its staff rosters.

The move highlights the strain across business from Covid Delta outbreak, which is putting extreme pressure on the nation’s supply chains and front line staff. Australia Post this week said it would halt e-commerce shipment in Melbourne for five days to get on top of a backlog as it juggles a wave of demand combined with staff shortages.

A spokesman for Woolworths told The Australian late Thursday it had more than 1,000 Victorian team members in isolation at present and it was putting a strain on store operations.

“A small number of stores have been forced to reduce their trading hours and one has temporarily closed,” he said.

“Making some sensible, risk-based adjustments to contract tracing would go a long way in helping us maintain essential supply and service to the Victorian community.

Thousands of supermarket staff have been sent home as stores are declared Covid-19 exposure sites. Picture: Dylan Robinson

“We’ll continue to work closely with the Victorian Government on these matters.”

Woolworths and rival Coles are concerned they might need to close more stores this weekend to cope with a huge staff shortage, and are looking to the state government to ease the rules around pushing all store staff into isolation when a customer is found to have entered the store with Covid-19.

Supermarkets are being forced to send entire store shifts home for extended isolation when a Covid-19 infected person enters the store, creating major holes in rosters. Some supermarket have already cut hours.

Retail executives said the issue is compounded when another infected person with Covid-19 enters the supermarket on a second day, which then forces the ‘B Team’ of staff members to also go into isolation. This has left the chains thousands of staff short and unable to operate their supermarkets.

The nation’s biggest supermarket chain, Woolworths, has had more than 25,000 instances where team members have been required to isolate in Victoria over the past three months because an infected person entered the store. None of these team members have gone on to test positive for Covid-19.

Woolworths currently has 24 stores listed as tier 1 exposure sites. At these sites, large numbers of team members are required to isolate for 14 days.

Coles, which has more of its store fleet in Victoria, has had 30,000 team members required to isolate over the same time three-month period.

Woolworths chief executive Brad Banducci recently revealed that it had as many as 3,000 staff in isolation as store workers at tier 1 exposure sites were sent home, which led to staff shortages at distribution centres and in the store. It led to some empty shelves across its supermarkets, especially in Victoria.

Coles has also had more than 3,000 staff sent into isolation in the wake of stores becoming tier 1 exposure sites for Covid-19.

AI Group Victorian director Tim Piper said isolation protocols for supermarket workers and food manufacturers needed to be urgently overhauled and called for the introduction of rapid antigen testing to ensure supply chains continued to function.

With Woolworths facing closures of Melbourne stores due to isolation requirements, Mr Piper said double vaccinated staff should be subject to different isolation requirements.

“We also need to have a different arrangement for isolations for the food manufacturing industry,” he said.

“They‘re part of the supply chain and they’re taking additional steps to make sure everybody’s double vaccinated and they place the food supply chain equally at risk.”

Mr Piper said introducing rapid antigen testing at supermarket and manufacturing sites would increase resilience in the face of Covid-19 exposure.

The retailers are now calling on the Victorian government in particular, and its department of health, to change isolation rules around Covid-19 that forces all staff working in a store into home isolation, robbing the retailer of large pools of workers it needs to properly operate stores.

A Coles spokesman said the industry is talking with the Victorian government about possible changes to Covid isolation protocols that would help ensure food security for people across the state.

“Since the Covid Delta wave began, around 30,000 supermarket team members in Victoria and NSW have been required to isolate as a result of exposure to a positive case. Thanks to the enhanced hygiene and safety measures we have in place, not one of these team members has subsequently tested positive for Covid.

“The NSW government has amended isolation protocols so that fully vaccinated workers in essential service industries are generally not required to isolate as a result of casual contact.”

The Coles spokesman said the supermarket sector had jointly proposed a similar model to the Victorian and other state governments to ensure stores can remain open to supply Australians with essential food.

“A number of supermarkets in Victoria have already been forced to reduce trading hours, and distribution centres have been impacted due to team members being required to isolate as a result of casual contact with someone who has tested positive for Covid,” he said.

“We continue to work hard to maintain food supply and keep stores open, however as case numbers rise this becomes more challenging as more of our team members are required to isolate.”

An Aldi spokesman said it is also facing pressure on store exposures and staff numbers, causing disruptions to its store operations.

“With supermarkets being one of the few places to visit during a lockdown, they are often listed as exposure sites. Thankfully, we have not seen evidence of transmission within supermarkets and they remain a safe place to visit, and for our employees to work.

“However, hundreds of our employees across the Aldi network, both in store and in distribution centres, have been required to self-isolate due to being in close or casual contact to positive Covid-19 cases.

“This requirement to isolate puts additional pressure on our internal supply chain, and on some occasions makes it a challenge to operate at full capacity. Most notably we see this situation in regional locations where whole teams have been sent into isolation, requiring stores to temporarily close or operate on reduced hours, limiting access to food for the local community.”

It is believed Metcash — which operates a banner group of independent chains under brands such as IGA and Foodland — is unaffected at this stage.

The urgency and desperation of the major supermarkets to win some reprieve from the government is reminiscent of late last year when strict Victorian government rules around the numbers of staff allowed at distribution centres threatened the ability of supermarket retailers to have enough stock on the shelves for Christmas. That threat was later lessened as the supermarkets won approval to have more staff working along their lengthy supply chains to meet with consumer demand around December and January.

But the risk of empty shelves and closed supermarkets has now reappeared, especially in Melbourne, as supermarkets scramble to replace the thousands of staff throw into isolation because of strict Covid-19 exposure rules.

Originally published as Woolworths, Coles and Aldi: Supermarkets beg for relief from Covid protocols