Natalie James
Woolworths has signed an agreement with the Fair Work Ombudsman to ensure that trolley collection contractors at its supermarkets are paying their employees correctly.
The agreement commits Woolworths to monitoring and regulating its network of trolley services to ensure contractors are meeting all workplace obligations.
This includes requiring contractors to keep accurate employment and shift records.
Woolworths is also required to audit the employee pay records of businesses tendering for trolley collection contracts, and must audit all contractors providing trolley collection services on its sites annually.
Any trolley collector who is deemed to have been underpaid since July 1, 2014, will also be back-paid their due entitlements either by their direct employer or, where this is not possible, through ex-gratia payments made by Woolworths.
Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James said the Proactive Compliance Deed would help address unlawful practices that have led to widespread exploitation and underpayment of workers within Woolworths’ trolley collection supply chain.
The regulator’s June 2016 Inquiry Report into the procurement of trolley collection services at Woolworths sites uncovered patterns of serious non-compliance amongst contractors with 79 per cent of sites found to have compliance issues.
“Our Inquiry found that Woolworths’ existing governance systems were not effective in addressing these issues, contributing to a culture of non-compliance by its contractors,” Ms James said.
“I am pleased that Woolworths has demonstrated its positive commitment to improving its management of contractors by entering into this compliance partnership with the Fair Work Ombudsman.”
Ms James said that by increasing accountability along the entire length of the trolley collection supply chain, the deed aimed to ensure the rights and entitlements of vulnerable workers were safeguarded.
“The deed reinforces that while it is primarily the direct employer’s responsibility to ensure its workers are receiving their proper entitlements, in a supply chain the accountability goes all the way to the top,” Ms James said.
The deed took effect on September 22, 2017.
The FWO has commenced 17 legal proceedings against trolley collection businesses since 2007.
“In our experience many workers engaged as trolley collectors are more vulnerable to exploitation by unprincipled contractors as they are often young, from migrant backgrounds and are relatively low-skilled employees,” Ms James said.
