Bunnings is looking to trial a four-day work week or nine-day fortnight for thousands of employees under a new agreement endorsed by the union for retail, fast food and warehouse workers.
The new agreement, covering a three-year period, has been endorsed by the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA), but still needs to be voted on by the team and approved by the Fair Work Commission in the coming weeks.
If approved, team members who are paid at base rates can expect a 10.5% pay increase over three years (4.5% in 2023 and 3% in 2024 and 2025) in addition to the scheduled superannuation increases. Team members paid above Bunnings base rates will also receive guaranteed minimum increases, subject to performance outcomes.
Bunnings chief people officer, Damian Zahra said, “Our team are our most important asset, and we work incredibly hard to ensure we’re always providing an environment that makes them feel rewarded and valued.
“We recently completed bargaining for a new Enterprise Agreement (EA) for our store and trade centre team. In addition to pay increases, higher penalty rates and greater choice for team on how they structure their work week, the new EA provides a number of changes to the treatment of days in lieu relating to public holidays, which in turn changes our approach to annual leave provisions.
“We have a track record of providing industry-leading pay, benefits and bonuses, and our aim is to provide a new EA that continues to reward our team for the great work they do every day.”
Bunnings last warehouse agreement was voted by team members in 2019, however following a delay with approval by Fair Work and uncertainties surrounding the pandemic, the application was withdrawn in 2020.
“It was always our intent to implement a new agreement as we came out the other side of Covid. We’ve worked hard to simplify the agreement as much as possible and have been consulting with our team for months to ensure we’ve captured what’s important to them, and as a result we are optimistic the agreement will be endorsed by team and Fair Work,” Zahra said.