Over the last two years, the pandemic has shown that supermarket workers are essential to the functioning of society as a whole. Woolies workers have been on the front line from the start, risking our health and safety to continue to feed millions of people across the country. 

While the stigma of being a supermarket worker is that we're 'unskilled', 'easily replaceable' and nothing special, we do all the work to make the biggest food and distribution operation in Australia run.

It is ordinary workers who have to deal with customers and keep shelves full - at the very least we deserve proper health and safety measures in return.

Our store was exposed to COVID-19 for several days:

12 December - from 1:30pm to 5:30pm
13 December - from 8:00am to 12:00pm
14 December - from 2:00pm to 9:00pm

Today (17/12) 64 new cases of COVID-19 were announced in Adelaide, nearly triple from a few days ago. We know that COVID-19 runs rampant in places with poor ventilation and confined spaces where social distancing measures are not adhered to. 

We work and live with the immuno compromised and vulnerable sections of society. People with existing health concerns are especially vulnerable. Long covid can result in ongoing, severe fatigue plus a wide range of other symptoms, including pain, as well as breathing, neurological, sleep and mental health problems.

Woolworths own website admits that dozens of work sites have transmitted COVID-19 just in the past couple of weeks.

Customers enter our store without masks and without checking in. We're told by management not to refuse service or ask anyone to put on a mask. There are no limits on how many people can be in the store, or in each aisle. Information about the current exposure has not been made available to all workers as well as the hundreds of members of the public who shop with us. 

For the past two years we have continued to work without hazard pay, wage increases or significant improvements in safety. Meanwhile Woolworths profits increased last year to $1.95 billion, an increase of 22% from last year. This follows a 17.5% growth in food sales. Woolworths has more than enough money to implement proper safety across all its stores.

Considering loudspeakers constantly remind us "your safety and wellbeing are our number one priority" Woolworths should implement the following changes immediately:

• Enforce mask wearing and checking in by a Covid Marshal at the front of the store during trade

 

• Woolworths to audit Marryatville's ventilation capabilities (Checking for CO2 concentration of less than 800 parts per million as per Australian Standard AS1668.2)

 

• Limit of 70 people in the store at any one time (roughly 2 people per sqm) 

 

• Commitment to full transparency with all workers, members of the public and news media during future exposures

 

• Exemptions and pay for workers who cant return to work
  

 

• Commitment to installing air filters in store and improving ventilation as part of the store renovation in February (Preferably earlier)