An improved Redundancy Package inclusive of the following:

• A redundancy package being no less advantageous than any other Coles DC sites have offered.
• Voluntary redundancy payment – minimum of 5 weeks per year of service capped at 52 weeks with employees being provided written confirmation of their redundancy before acceptance.
• Involuntary redundancy payment – minimum of 5 weeks per year of service capped at 104 weeks with those employees retaining their team member discount card and associated benefits for life.
• “Service” for purpose of redundancy payments for permanent employees will include all continuous years of casual engagement done by that employee. Where a casual is involuntarily terminated a yet to be determined payment for each year of service is to be made.
• “year of service” will mean for the purpose of redundancy each completed year and calculated pro-rata for each completed month of service.
• Additional redundancy payment for Employees aged over 45 receiving 2 weeks pay per year of service, uncapped.
• All redundancy payments to include shift penalties and allowances which the employee has received for the majority of their hours throughout their time of employment.
• When terminated under redundancy, employees will also receive:
  • Leave Loading upon all accrued or pro-rata annual leave.
  • Long Service leave entitlements if employee has at least 12 months continuous service on a pro rata basis.
  • All Personal leave entitlements that are accrued but untaken.
• Coles to increase minimum notice period to three (3) months when terminating employees including by way of redundancy.
• Coles to provide three (3) months notice for actual shut down of site(s) during which time all remaining employees will receive an additional weekly allowance of $900.
• Where Coles offers an employee alternative employment to redundancy, the employee will retain sole discretion on whether to accept the alternative position or redundancy.
• Where an employee has accepted a redeployment/transfer to a lower paid position as an alternative to redundancy the employee will be provided three (3) months notice (or lesser by agreement) and Coles will pay an amount equal to the difference between the employees former rate of pay (i.e. base rate plus shift penalties and allowances) and the new rate of pay (i.e. base rate plus shift penalties and allowances) for the same number of weeks had the employee received a redundancy.
• Where an employee has accepted alternative employment within the Coles Group, a three (3) month cooling off period will apply wherein the employee can reverse the engagement and access their redundancy. If terminated during this three month cooling off period, the employee will be entitled to the same involuntary redundancy payment as if they had been terminated from the DC.
• Where an employee is terminated and dismissal is deemed unfair by a relevant tribunal or settled by way of confidential agreement, then the employee will be entitled to an involuntary redundancy payment.

A Retraining, Re-skilling and Redeployment package including but not limited to:

• Providing an information/re-training “Hub” onsite, for the purposes of: training, re-training, re-skilling and resourcing to seek new employment. For example – a room with REST and TAFE literature and a bank of computers that employees’ can use to research information and opportunities beyond redundancy.
• Providing: one on one coaching, online mentoring, assisted resume preparation, creation of LinkedIn profiles, networking creation strategies etc.
• Providing a $5000 training reimbursement in any field that employee elects.
• Providing, within the three (3) month notice period an opportunity for employees to access two (2) days off per week to seek alternative employment, re-training or re-skilling opportunities.
• Where roles and opportunities are identified and become available at any Queensland Coles DC’s (including but not limited to Redbank Plains and Parkinson) that utilise the skillsets of current Forest Lake/Heathwood DC employees; Coles will first offer those roles/opportunities to current Forest Lake/Heathwood DC employees before seeking outside personnel.
• Where roles and opportunities in associated entities within the Coles group are identified and that employees may apply for, the company will remove any prohibitions or policies restraining the rehire or engagement of the employee in the group.
• Where an employee has accepted alternative employment or relocated within the Coles Group, continuity of service will be maintained and recognised for all purposes of employment and leave entitlements.
• Where a team member is required by Coles to operate a forklift the company will pay for forklift training, licensing and license renewal.

Other Claims including:

• A BOOT compliant document that incorporates all minimum National Employment Standards and complies with all relevant legislation and Award provisions.
• An annual compounding increase to all pay rates, allowances and loadings of whichever is the greater rate of 6.00% p.a. or the relevant CPI/Inflation rate at the time of the yearly increase.
• An agreement for 3 years or as determined to be appropriate to cover site closures.
• That the current grading structure be retained for the life of the agreement with the exception of loading to be reclassified to a higher grade.
• Introduction of a conversion clause for Part-Time employees to convert to Full-Time employment based on hours worked in a 12 month period, similar to a casual conversion clause.
• Where a team member or combination of team members are required to perform at a higher graded role continuously for a 3 month (or greater) period, Coles is to offer a permanent role for that higher graded position.
• Amending Clause 29.9 to comply with BOOT and remove any references of time periods for notification; allowing team members to provide notice as is ‘reasonably practicable’ .
• Inconsistent application of clause 47.6 regarding Performance Management process accordingly request its deletion from the agreement.
• That the requirement for “mutual agreement” pursuant to clause 25.10 (iii) in order to bank RDO’s be removed.

Discussion points

1. Timings: Timing is impacted on both sites arising from changes to the Forest Lake & Heathwood DCs, including the introduction of “Gravity Flow”. Whilst both DCs require review of timings this should not result in a decrease of benefits to employees. We propose :
   • That timings are immediately reviewed and that no employee will be negatively financially impacted as a result of re-timing of the DC’s.
   • That those employees whose incentives have currently been negatively impacted by DC changes are back paid their average individual incentive (based on their incentives received during the 12 months before August 2021) and continue to be paid this until completion of their DC being retimed.
2. Forklift Duties:
   • Company should offer forklift and loading duties (this applies to all shifts, including overtime shifts) in the following order – Full Timers, then Part Timers and then Casuals.
   • Employees will be stepped off the forklifts in the reverse order.
   • Forklift and loading duties should only be offered to direct hire employees.
3. W H & S:
   • Picked pallets should not exceed shoulder height.
   • Company should provide enough forklift operators for pallet collection to allow other operators safe access to picking aisles.
   • Where an employee is banned from operating a high risk vehicle, that ban should apply to all high risk vehicles.
   • Long Service Leave: The company will undertake and commence a review to determine if there is any outstanding issue with a team member/s Long Service Leave payments. The company will commit to rectify any team member’s long service leave payment if they have been affected.
4. Buddy System:
   • The use of a “buddy” in lieu of a trainer be ceased.
   • The company only utilise the trainers to train and those with current and up to date qualifications to be used and chosen first.
   • All employees who have currently performed buddying functions should be paid the trainers allowance under the agreement as they have provided training services.
5. Disciplinary & Performance Management Processes
   • Where the company wishes to discipline an employee in regards to any matter (e.g. event “gaps” or “extended breaks”) the company must hold discussions within 7 days from when the most recent incident occurred in order to necessitate a discussion.
   • The company will not take any action to terminate employees without appropriate investigation and discussion during the life of this agreement
   • Where there are health and safety concerns and a person is taken off duty (e.g. forklifts); investigations should be commenced within 24 hours and a determination made within 21 days. In the event the investigation outcome reflects there has been no safety breach the person should be returned to forklift duties within 3 days. If no determination is made within 21 days then that employee should be automatically retrained and returned to forklift duties.