Coles staff urged to vote ‘No’ to proposed enterprise agreement

Staff at supermarket giant Coles have rubbished plans to overhaul the company’s enterprise agreement after widespread walkouts last year.

Coles staff are being urged to vote down a proposed enterprise agreement promising better wages and contract hours as the supermarket giant faces fallout from nationwide walkouts and increased government scrutiny.

The Retail and Fast Food Workers Union on Wednesday urged about 120,000 Coles and Coles Liquorland staff to vote no to the agreement, which requires majority support from employees before going before the Fair Work Commission.

In a message to its members, the union said the agreement did not guarantee real wage increases that would keep up with inflation and failed to protect workers from abuse amid increasing attacks on supermarket staff.

“Coles has cut a wage stealing deal with the SDA and workers are fighting back. There are many reasons to vote no, including that it sees bosses make better offers. Don’t get railroaded into the sellout deal,” the union said.

The proposed agreement comes after protracted negotiations between the supermarket giant and the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association, or SDA, which said the deal would deliver a raft of changes.

The proposed enterprise agreement will require majority approval of staff. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Roy VanDerVegt

Among the proposed benefits of the deal, according to the SDA, is an allowance increase and a sign-on bonus digital gift card, as well as an increase to the minimum part-time contracted hours from nine to 12.

Those promises were rubbished by staff who took to social media to vent frustration at the proposed new enterprise agreement, which they said was “bulls--t” and “an insult” after refusals to bargain with the RAFFWU.

“This enterprise agreement offer is nothing but an insult from a company who refused to bargain for as long as they could, and then refused to listen or compromise on any points,” one staff member said on Reddit.

“If SDA tries to convince you it’s a good deal, ask them where the improved conditions and pay are. Ask them how much their support is based on their being given a section labelling them as the union for Coles.”

Key to staff complaints was a claim by Coles and Liquorland leadership in an email to staff that “all team members covered by the 2024 agreement will continue to be paid more than the award at all times”.

Staff claimed the rate above the award amounted to just 37c for a “part-time level 1 team member” for a three-hour shift when taking into account a lack of laundry allowance for that role with Coles.

The deal comes amid increased scrutiny on both Coles and Woolworths after they posted record multibillion-dollar profits in recent years as Australians battled rising costs.

Coles and Woolworths walked off the job late last year. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

In a statement, Coles said it had been “working hard to listen to our team members and their bargaining representatives” to provide a proposed enterprise agreement that benefited its team members and supported operations.

“Through engagement with our team and extensive negotiations with all bargaining representatives, including the SDA, our team members requested greater flexibility around voluntary additional shifts, the ability to work across multiple stores and greater guaranteed minimum hours for part-timers,” a spokesperson said.

“We are pleased to be able to deliver all of this as part of the proposed enterprise agreement.

“The SDA, being the primary union for wages workforce, has endorsed the proposed enterprise agreement and urged its tens of thousands of members to vote in favour.

“The proposed enterprise agreement provides several benefits in addition to greater flexibility, including maintaining above-award base rates of pay for almost 100,000 of our team, a mechanism for future wage rate increases, and enhances several leave entitlements.

“Coles’ supermarket wages team members have received pay increases of more than 10 per cent in the past two years through similar increase arrangements.”

Originally published as Coles staff urged to vote ‘No’ to proposed enterprise agreement