Originally published by The Spinoff . Woolworths staff have been striking - and one workplace issue they want addressed is understaffing. The Spinoff talks to one supermarket worker about the impact.
In 2022, Owen* was watching the news with his wife. There was a story about staff shortages at supermarkets. “I can help them out,” he remembers thinking.
The 65-year-old applied for a job at his local Woolworths supermarket in the central North Island. It was the end of the Covid years, when supermarket workers had been thanked for their hard, vital work to ensure people continued to have access to food in the middle of lockdowns. Two years later, the goodwill towards supermarket workers seems to have dissipated, although complaints about their employers, New Zealand’s two major supermarket chains, persist.
“Supply chain shortages” used to explain empty shelves are less frequent too. Meanwhile, Owen is still working at the supermarket, and he still sees empty shelves and hears complaints from frustrated customers. He now has a contract to work two days a week, but often ends up doing much more.
Why? Chronic understaffing, he says. “We’re always short. People come back too early after being sick, they’re tired, they’re weary, they’ve been asked to fill a shift and they do it anyway,” Owen says.
Often, customers ask him why shelves are empty: he wants to explain to them staff are exasperated too, but he doesn’t have time, because there are pallets to unload..
