Retail Award

Warehouse workers will be covered by the Retail Award if:

• their employer is in the retail industry
• there’s a classification which matches their duties
• they’re employed at a retail establishment.

The general retail industry means the sale or hire of goods or services to final consumers for personal, household or business consumption.

Retail establishment

A warehouse is a retail establishment if it:

• is attached to a retail store
• functions as a retail store, such as an online retailer that has no shopfront
• stores goods to be supplied direct to final consumers.

Example

Hugo works for the Emporium of Whitegoods as a forklift driver. The Emporium has a shopfront in the city with display stock only. The goods customers receive come from a warehouse owned by the Emporium on the outskirts of the city.

Customers buy whitegoods at the Emporium shopfront. Hugo picks the order and ships it off to the customer direct from the warehouse.

Hugo is covered by the Retail Award as a level 2 retail employee.

Example

Franz is employed by an online retailer of kaftans. The business operates from a warehouse and doesn’t have a bricks and mortar shopfront.

Franz works in the warehouse. He picks and packs kaftans for orders as they come in and assists in monitoring stock levels.

Franz’s employer is in the general retail industry. The warehouse is a retail establishment because retail goods are sold to customers directly from the warehouse.

Franz is covered by the Retail Award as a level 1 retail employee.

Storage and Wholesale Award

Some warehouse workers in the retail industry can be covered by the Storage and Wholesale Award. This includes warehouse workers who work in a warehouse that:

• isn’t attached to a retail store
• stores goods that won’t be supplied directly to final consumers.

Example

Anjie works in a distribution centre for a large supermarket chain. The distribution centre stores goods for 8 stores in the chain. It’s not physically attached to any of the supermarkets.

Stores place orders with the warehouse for stock they need. Anjie picks, packs and dispatches the stock to the stores.

The warehouse isn’t supplying the stock directly to the final consumer as part of a retail business.

Anjie is covered by the Storage and Wholesale Award as a storeworker grade 1 employee.