Bunnings closures confirmed
Bunnings Warehouse has confirmed the closure of seven stores by the end of the month, affecting 145 staff.
The closures were first proposed on May 12, ahead of a period of consultation with affected team members.
The final decision to close stores had been driven by the trading environment that resulted from Covid-19 and from other factors including lease arrangements, individual store performance and location, Bunnings New Zealand director Jacqui Coombes said.
Some locations had always been temporary, she said.
The Ashburton warehouse, four smaller format stores in Cambridge, Rangiora, Te Awamutu and Putaruru, and two trade centres in Hornby and Hastings will close permanently.
Coombes said current conditions had led to the ‘‘incredibly difficult’’ decision, which was made to ensure the longterm performance of the business and its 4500 staff. ‘‘Our absolute focus and priority now is the welfare of the 145 team members who are affected, and we will work closely with them through this process.’’
Team members would be redeployed to other locations where practical and others would receive redundancy packages reflective of their time spent working for the company. Career support, advice and counselling services would also be made available, Coombes said.
First Union organiser Kirstin Miller slammed the decision, saying Bunnings had not provided sufficient information to justify closing the stores. ‘‘They provided us with very scant financial information that only goes back to December. And yet they’re trying to say that these stores hadn’t been performing well for years with no information to back that up.’’
The company had not considered alternatives to the closures either, Miller said.
First Union had asked Bunnings to wait to see if things ‘‘would come right following Covid’’, but it refused.
Affected staff were upset and angry, she said. ‘‘They feel like the company doesn’t care about them at all.’’
Staff had been told not to speak to the media, and despite being challenged by the union, the restriction had not been lifted as far as she was aware, Miller said.
Staff hoping to be redeployed would probably be too scared to so anyway, she said.
The proposed closure of the Ashburton store had been ‘‘heartbreaking’’ for the local community, who had started a petition to keep it open, she said. With the nearest store 90 kilometres away in Christchurch, the redeployment opportunities were very slim.
The union was still in the process of disputing the closures and had told Bunnings it believed any dismissals at this point would be unjustified, Miller said. New store developments at Westgate and Queenstown would go ahead as planned, Coombes said.