A meeting was held between First Union and Countdown last Tuesday to discuss safety and security in the wake of the Countdown Dunedin Central stabbing earlier this month.
The union wanted Countdown to engage in discussions over safe staffing levels and store security, while union members had also asked for their bosses to have meetings in every store around the country to talk about safety issues.
More than 70% of union members reported experiencing aggression from customers.
Yesterday Union retail, finance and commerce secretary Tali Williams said the union was yet to receive a response from Countdown, and it had written to the company as a reminder.
As well as asking for certain issues to be addressed, the union had also asked Countdown to communicate what it was working on around staff safety.
‘‘We appreciate not everything comes at once, but it’s important for workers to know what’s being worked on, so they feel like things are under way to change,’’ Ms Williams said.
‘‘It would be helpful, in terms of the relationship with the union, and to give workers confidence things were being worked on, to have heard by now.’’
A Countdown spokeswoman said the union had asked some serious questions, and Countdown was committed to answering those and working with its team to listen to their feedback.
‘‘We’re taking the time to consider the questions properly and talk to as many different people as we can, and we’ll respond to First Union as soon as we are in a position to.
‘‘In the meantime the union is well across what we’re doing to support our Dunedin Central team in the wake of the attack. Right throughout the country we remain very focused on our team’s safety.’’
