FIFTEEN positions have been cut from the local Coles Distribution Centre.
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The company offered the voluntary redundancies in recent weeks and were quickly taken up, the National Union of Workers confirmed.
Media spokesman Mark Ptolemy said the company blamed a downturn in the frequency of work at the south Goulburn centre.
But the union previously voiced fears that the company was channelling work to its Sydney distribution depots as part of efficiency and consolidation measures.
Mr Ptolemy said Coles had not given any guarantee there wouldn’t be further redundancies at Goulburn in the future. Three years ago the centre had 365 fulltime workers and up to 100 casuals. Before the latest round of redundancies there were 185 fulltime employees, the union confirmed.
The company has opted for more casual positions across all its distribution operations.
“We obviously have concerns about the loss of jobs for our members and for the community,” Mr Ptolemy said.
“These are 15 well paid jobs which have an impact on the wider community.”
The losses were in the distribution area.
The union has met with the company, ensuring all entitlements were paid in line with the employment agreement. Mr Ptolemy said there was no problem on that front but the company did not have an obligation to consult in advance about job cuts based on “commercial decisions.”
The same reason was used in 2011 when some 50 casual employees were left without work at the centre. The union claimed then that Coles was sending 120,000 cartons to Sydney warehouses which were “bursting at the seams.”
A union rep described the decision as “baffling” given that Sydney DCs assembled some one million cartons a week, while Goulburn was handling 550,000 to 600,000.
Attempts to retain the work locally failed.
Just as in 2011, the union remains concerned about the Goulburn centre’s longterm future.
“The union hopes Coles does whatever it can to ensure the longevity of employment at the site for the benefit of workers and the community,” he said.
The company would not answer specific questions about the reason for the redundancies and the centre’s long-term future here.
“Coles will create 16,000 new jobs over the next three years, including 4,000 in NSW as we invest more than $1 billion in new and renovated stores,” a spokeswoman said.
“We are able to do this by ensuring that we run our business as efficiently as possible.
A review at our Goulburn DC has identified better ways of working which require fewer people. We are managing this through voluntary redundancies and supporting our people throughout the process.”
