Workers at Woolworths’ distribution centres have gone on strike this week to demand higher pay and an end to a new performance management framework that unions say compromises safety.

More than 1500 warehouse staff across three Woolworths distribution centres in Victoria and another in New South Wales say they will be on strike until agreement is reached on a new deal.

The United Workers Union (UWU) has taken particular issue with a so-called “framework” that tracks workers closely to ensure they maintain a certain speed, and can punish them if they fail.

Striking warehouse worker Jacob said the beefed up on-the-job surveillance creates an “atmosphere of uncertainty” at work and at home.

“You wake up, you think, how am I feeling today? Can I go to work and can I hit 100 per cent?” he said.

“Then you’re at work, you’re worried about keeping it up to 100 per cent, with all the variables throughout the day, and then you finish and you’re worried about resting up and recovering for your next shift where you’re gonna have to hit 100 per cent.

“It’s simply not realistic to do that every day for the term of someone’s employment.”

UWU logistics director Dario Mujkic said workers are also seeking a pay deal that delivers reasonable real wage increases and ensures all workers will earn at least $38 per hour.

Woolworths current pay offers are set around the current underlying inflation rate, despite the company also asking workers to abide by a stringent work routine designed to boost productivity.

“It’s a really difficult time for everyone out there, bills are sky high and prices at Woolies and Coles in particular are high,” Mujkic said.

“What they’re offering at the moment is give or take around the underlying rate of inflation, but it needs to be above that. “

What is ‘the framework’?

Mujkic said that Woolworths currently requires warehouse workers to wear headsets that monitor their productivity and assign them tasks during the work day.

That typically involves moving heavy stock from trucks, as well as picking and packing tasks.

“They system knows what you’re doing all the time and it tells you if you’ve taken too long,” Mujkic said.

“There’s already extreme surveillance on people – there’s a lot of pressure.”

The new system, called the “framework” looks to up the ante on that approach, by using so-called “engineered standards” that set performance requirements around how fast people work.

It’s a management plan used by many companies in the United States and has previously been described as putting a “stopwatch” on workers.

“They’re saying to people that there is a level of performance we call 100 per cent productivity, and if you don’t meet that pace of work you will be disciplined,” Mujkic said.

“You will receive a warning, then another warning, and then be terminated – that can happen in as little as 12 weeks.”

When contacted for comment, Woolworths responded with a statement from its logistics branch Primary Connect.

“The framework being criticised by the union has been developed with safety as an inherent component,” a spokesperson for Primary Connect said.

“The measure of work which sits behind the framework has been developed based on the time it should take a person with reasonable skill, applying reasonable effort, working at a safe and conscientious pace, that can be maintained for the duration of a shift, to complete a task.”

Union criticisms

Mujkic said the framework will undermine safety because workers will be pushed to cut corners to meet productivity standards.

He said that by standardising durations for tasks, Woolworths was failing to take into account changes in the capabilities and abilities of workers, as well as properly accounting for fatigue or delays on the warehouse floor.

“It’s a cheap attempt at increasing productivity and it doesn’t take into account the human element at all,” Mujkic said.

The UWU wants Woolworths to scrap the performance management plan altogether after its implementation was delayed earlier this year after unions raised a dispute with the Fair Work Commission.

“One way to increase productivity is to treat workers with respect and treat them well,” Mujkic said.

“If you treat people with a stick, it may speed things up, but overall moral and productivity fall.”