Woolworths is racing to restock supermarket shelves ahead of Christmas, but has warned that “it will take time” to fully replenish them.
The fallout from the strike, which blocked access to four distribution centres in Victoria and New South Wales, resulted in a hefty $140 million loss.
A Woolworths spokesperson said today that staff had been working tirelessly to get operations back on track.
“By the end of today, 312 truck deliveries will have been made from the four reopened sites to 249 supermarkets across Victoria, ACT and southern NSW,” a spokesperson said.
“In the last 48 hours we will have processed over one million cartons in the four DCs, which are now being delivered.
“With just over two weeks to go until Christmas, we’re now focused on getting products out of the distribution centres and restocking our shelves as quickly as possible.
“Turning back ‘on’ such a large part of our supply chain means it will take some time for our stores to look their best, and we’ll be ramping up as much as we can to get products to the stores where they’re needed most.”
The spokesperson said the company “sincerely apologise” to affected customers.
“We know how frustrating it has been to shop with us in recent weeks across Victoria, the ACT and parts of NSW,” the spokesperson said.
Woolworths said it was anticipating further losses heading into 2025, due to the time and expense of rebuilding stock levels ahead of the Christmas shopping period.
Shelves had been left bare at some stories with the distribution centres unable to send out goods during the strike.
The new agreement provides workers with an approximate 11 per cent wage increase over three years, while concerns over performance metrics were also addressed, Woolworths said.
