‘Crushing’: Woolworths proposes 130 job cuts in New Zealand

Author: Herald Reporters,
Publish Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2026, 4:26pm

Woolworths is proposing to cut about 130 customer care roles in New Zealand, according to union Workers First.

The union said affected staff were called to a meeting at 1pm today about the proposal.

A Woolworths spokesperson told the Herald it had announced a proposal to explore the integration of its customer care operations with Woolworths Group’s established support capability based in Sydney, Australia.

“The proposal is designed to explore the use of Woolworths Group’s scale, systems and expertise to provide customer service for Kiwi customers while supporting a simpler, more sustainable New Zealand business.

“We acknowledge proposals like this have an impact on our team and we don’t take that lightly.

“Right now our primary focus is on supporting those team members and ensuring customers are not impacted while we consider the proposal.”

Workers First said the feedback deadline for affected workers is September 15.

“Many of the customer care team are sole parents who work remotely and will not find redeployment or comparable employment in their regions,” Workers First deputy secretary Rudd Hughes said.

“This proposal will be crushing to hear about today.”

Hughes said Workers First had provided feedback on the proposal and would continue to advocate for union members during the consultation period.

“This is yet another example of New Zealanders losing out to Australia because companies like Woolworths see them as expendable,” he said.

“They’re happy to earn big profits in our country and make Kiwis reliant on their supermarkets, but they are planning to throw away more than 100 of our jobs to save a very small amount of money over the next three years.

“There should be a reasonable expectation that a large company like Woolworths should reinvest into the society where its customer base is generating those profits – but Woolworths seem to care only about their bottom lines.”

Hughes said the proposed cuts would mean worse service for Woolworths customers in New Zealand.

“Someone calling from Paekākāriki to inquire about a product return, for example, may find it much more difficult to deal with an Australian who lacks local knowledge and local experience,” he said.

Woolworths NZ reported total sales of $8.49 billion in the 52 weeks ended June 28, 2026, up 2.5% from $8.28b in the prior year.

Woolworths NZ’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) lifted 3.9% from $515m to $536m, with earnings before interest and tax (ebit) up 8.8% to $163m with an ebit margin of 1.9%.