Woolworths staff turn on company over divisive ‘woke’ Australia Day stance

Disgruntled Woolworths staff have hit out at the supermarket’s divisive Australia Day stance, calling it “unbelievable” and “disgusting”.

The staff backlash has come in the form of leaked messages and is in response to Woolies’ move to stop selling Australia Day merchandise after a “gradual decline” in overall sales.

The messages were captured in an online forum managed by Woolworths for their employees, the Daily Mail reports.

It’s understood staff were bewildered by their employer’s decision to refuse to sell the merchandise but instead actively promoted cultural celebrations like Chinese New Year and Diwali.

“Unbelievable that Australia Day was cancelled, but we will celebrate Halloween and Chinese New Year, just to name a couple,” one person wrote in the forum.

“ … Can you imagine a Chinese supermarket chain cancelling Chinese New Year but celebrating Australia Day?” they continued.

“Australian CEOs need to stop playing politics/activism and get on with running the business.”

Another staff member probed why the company supports “all other diversity” but has suddenly chosen not to “support the community that celebrates Australia Day”.

“I don’t get it,” she wrote.

Others were quick to call out the company for being woke.

“They’re bringing in year of the dragon 2024 Lunar New Year gear, loads of it, but no Aussie stuff, disgusting, go figure, go woke, go broke,” one wrote.

“I cannot believe that Woolworths … have taken this woke stance about our national day, a day when we should come together as one,” another said.

Earlier, customers condemned Woolies as “hypocritical” and “un-Australian” for its advertising and headlines, given the supermarket was excoriated on January 10 when its abandonment of Australia Day merchandise was revealed.

This week’s Woolies catalogue includes the large, bold-printed headline “great value for the Australia Day long weekend”, detailing reduced prices for barbecue items and fruit.

Online, the same headline is plastered on the website alongside featured Australia Day deals and products.

By comparison, the same catalogues in January 2023 and 2022 made no mention of Australia Day, but the supermarket was still stocking themed merchandise.

Woolworths chief executive Brad Banducci said of the drama that the decision not to sell merchandise was commercial, insisting the supermarket still offered “the best” food for Australia Day entertaining.

“In terms of merchandising, our commercial decision not to stock specific Australian Day general merchandise was made based on steeply declining sales,” Mr Banducci said.

“The decision to stock this mostly imported merchandise has to be made almost 12 months in advance, so it doesn’t make commercial sense as a business decision.

“There are many other ways in which we are supporting our customers and our team to celebrate Australia, such as acknowledging the best of Australian products in our stores and online and supporting our team to mark Australia Day with their local community.”