Bunnings is letting suspended staff members return to work in Dunedin as it enters facilitation to settle a nationwide employment dispute.
Alax Robinson (31), of Dunedin, said Bunnings had allowed him and about 20 other suspended staff to resume working at Bunnings Dunedin.
On returning to work, Mr Robinson was told to expect a warning for talking to the Otago Daily Times after being suspended on Wednesday.
First Union retail and finance secretary Maxine Gay said Bunnings suspended hundreds of workers across New Zealand this week, including Mr Robinson, for removing their aprons in a protest against the chainstore's refusal to negotiate on rostering.
Mr Robinson said as the strike action had been lifted, the staff would be wearing their aprons.
Ms Gay said the Employment Relations Authority had accepted First Union's application for facilitated bargaining.
"With the authority supervising the process, we're confident we can break the deadlock on rostering,'' she said.
The rosters were set with "mutual agreement'' between managers and staff but Bunnings was proposing an employment contract to allow managers to impose rosters with a few days' notice.
The proposals would make planning life outside work "impossible'' for Bunnings staff because they would not know when they were working, Ms Gay said.
During facilitated bargaining, the authority helps overcome impasses in collective bargaining and makes recommendations for settlement.
Both parties had agreed to be bound by the authority's recommendations, Ms Gay said.
Bunnings head office in Auckland did not respond to questions yesterday.
