Coles meat: Butchers and meat workers to be cut in proposed restructure

Asking your friendly Coles butcher’s advice while perusing the meat aisle could be at an end as the supermarket giant proposes major changes.

The end might be coming to in-store Coles butchers.

In a major Australia-wide restructure, supermarket giant Coles could be about to get rid of its in-store butchers and meat staff.

A major proposal is on the table to outsource in-house meat preparation — a move which the Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union says will affect 1524 workers nationwide, including 365 in Victoria.

It is understood Woolworths previously downsized its meat department and Aldi only sells pre-packaged products.

Meat department employees were told about the proposal in late June and Victorian branch secretary Paul Conway said a meeting with Coles has been set for July 12.

Leader understands the proposal includes supermarkets moving to a “retail ready meat” model where meat is delivered to the store pre-cut and packaged elsewhere.

The union believes anyone employed as a meat worker will be offered redeployment under the Coles Supermarkets agreement with different rosters, pay rates, and conditions.

And if there are no suitable redeployment options, these employees could be made redundant.

Mr Conway said the current agreement expired in June and covered managers, butchers, assistants and packers.

He said there were eight supermarkets across the country that would keep its “serveries” but professional butchers would not be employed.

Mr Conway said the move was a further blow to the butcher industry as the jobs become extinct.

He said Coles planned to have a decision made on redeployment and redundancies by July 19, and the plan fully operational by the end of October.

This comes as Leader was contacted by the family of a Coles meat worker who will be affected under this “restructure”.

Leader understands the person has been with a supermarket in Melbourne’s east for 25 years and was informed about the proposal by Coles management.

They were told they would lose their job but be rehired as a general supermarket staff member on a lower wage.

A Coles spokesman said to help meet customers’ changing needs the company was considering a proposal to align its operating model nationally to consistently deliver high quality retail-ready meat.

“Under the proposal, our fresh meat range would be supplied to stores as retail-ready products and would not require any preparation to be carried out in-store before being placed on the shelves of our meat fridges for customers to buy,” the spokesman said.

“Over the coming weeks we will continue to engage in consultation on these proposed changes with affected meat team members as well as their union representatives.”

He said if a decision was made to proceed with the proposal, the company would work with affected team members to assess potential redeployment and retraining opportunities within Coles.