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Woolworths Coles, Aldi supermarkets announce new Covid-19 mandate for staff

Jack PaynterNCA NewsWire

Woolworths, Coles and Aldi have announced all staff will be required to be vaccinated against Covid-19 to continue working in their stores.

The three supermarket giants are the latest in a string of Australian major corporations that have announced compulsory vaccinations for staff in recent weeks.

All three publicly released their new rules within minutes of each other on Thursday morning.

For Woolworths staff, unless public health orders come into effect sooner, the proposed timeline for the full vaccination requirement of staff in the ACT, NSW, the Northern Territory, Victoria and Western Australia is January 31 next year and March 31 in the other states.

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The company said it would apply group-wide and cover Australian team members working in stores, distribution and online fulfilment centres, and support offices.

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Camera IconWoolworths has announced a new staff vaccination mandate. NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard Credit: News Corp Australia

The Woolworths Group said it expects to make a final decision and release its policy in November 2021.

“We have a clear obligation to provide our team members with the safest possible work environment as we supply the food and essential needs our communities rely on,” Woolworths Group chief executive, Brad Banducci, said.

“After careful review of the best medical advice, we’ve made the decision to require all of our team members in Australia to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

“We have 170,000 team members across our stores, distribution centres and support offices, and more than 1200 retail stores. With each store welcoming an average 20,000 customers a week, a single team member can come into contact with quite literally thousands of people in the course of a normal working week.”

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Camera IconColes has also introduced compulsory Covid vaccinations for their staff. NCA NewsWire / Sarah Marshall Credit: News Corp Australia

Woolworths said about a third of their Australian workforce was already subject to state issued health orders, which require either full or part vaccination in order to work.

Customers will not be required to be vaccinated to access food and other essentials in Woolworths stores.

Coles said it would required team members to be vaccinated over coming months as a condition of working at any of our stores, distribution centres and other sites in NSW, the ACT and Victoria, unless they have a valid exemption.

Government health orders also require Coles team members in the NT and Coles supermarket team members in WA to be vaccinated in order to work.

Coles said they would work with team members in those states to help them access vaccination so that they can comply with the regulations.

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Camera IconSAldi staff will also need to be vaccinated. NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard Credit: News Corp Australia

Coles Group CEO Steven Cain said providing a safe environment for team members and customers has been a top priority throughout the pandemic.

“As people are able to circulate more freely in NSW, the ACT and Victoria, health authorities have warned that Covid case numbers in these states are expected to increase, which also means a higher risk of positive cases visiting our stores,” he said.

In Victoria, Coles staff have until Friday to get their first dose and November 26 to be fully vaccinated, in NSW and the ACT they have until November 5 and December 17, in the NT they must have had their first dose by November 13 and be fully vaccinated by Christmas Day, and December 31 and January 31 in WA.

Companies with vaccine mandates

Coles said it would continue to work with health authorities and team members in other states to strongly encourage the uptake of vaccination where it is not currently required as a condition of work.

Coles said they would also continue to serve all customers regardless of their vaccination status.

ALDI Australia chief executive Tom Daunt said it was their view that requiring all employees to be vaccinated against Covid-19 in the future was the best measure to ensure the health and safety of our teams and our customers.

He said they had commenced consultation with all of our employees to gather their input on the proposal.

“Following this consultation and consideration of the feedback provided, we will announce our plans to all employees,” he said.

Aldi expects the process to take a couple of weeks.

“The heath advice is clear: vaccinated employees are less likely to contract Covid-19 than unvaccinated employees, and vaccinated employees are also less likely to pass Covid-19 on to colleagues or customers,” Mr Daunt said.

“There will be a small proportion of our employees with a valid medical exemption who will be excluded from this policy. In these rare instances we will rely on other arrangements to ensure their safety in the workplace.”

The national carrier, Qantas, Telstra, Westpac, Commonwealth Bank and BHP are among some of the other companies to announce vaccine mandates.