Union says 14 staff will compete for six jobs at Whanganui Warehouse

First Union believes 14 management positions will be restructured down to just six jobs.

Fourteen management staff at The Warehouse in Whanganui will have to contest one another if they want to secure the one of the six positions being made available there.

That's according to First Union's Whanganui organiser, Kay Hearfield, who sat in on the company's briefing of staff this morning .

The Warehouse proposed the restructure to staff on June 28 and gave them until July 15 to respond with feedback.

Hearfield said that proposal talked about 14 management positions going and those being replaced by six positions.

"As of noon today all available jobs on each site would be made available so people could start applying. They've got until August 1," Hearfield said.

Those six positions would be available to everybody, she said.

"They [The Warehouse] suggested that they are going to really try to retain and redeploy people in the red sheds if they can."

But Hearfield said that wasn't easy in Whanganui - it meant moving towns if someone didn't get one of the six positions here.

"Everybody's really anxious to see the reality of the available shifts that are actually in Whanganui.

"Morale's not high ... there are still a lot of people that feel very vulnerable. They feel nervous and uncertain of their own future."

She said The Warehouse would confirm who got the jobs on August 10.

Earlier this month, Australian retail giant Kmart said it would offer jobs to those affected by the restructure at The Warehouse.

The nearest Kmart is in Palmerston North and Hearfield said it didn't appeal to people living in Whanganui.

"I raised that in the meeting and I just got ... a giggle and a sneer because the reality is just the travelling alone would be a burden for people.

"There didn't appear to be any interest from Whanganui."

In a statement, The Warehouse confirmed the leadership changes in stores throughout the country in what it called the first of its kind in 15 years.

The Warehouse's chief executive, Pejman Okhovat, said the changes would improve service at the big red shed in light of changes in the way people shopped.

"The new leadership structure will deliver a number of benefits to team members and therefore customers, including increased staffing levels at peak times, better leadership support during trading hours, improved sick and holiday cover and better-defined career pathways for team members," said Okhovat.

The statement said the company expected there to be between 120 and 140 fewer full time jobs across its 92 stores.

There were nearly 1500 individual items of feedback from staff on the proposal.

The store said it would offer free, confidential and professional counselling and other support for team members and their families.

The Warehouse said where recent vacancies had come up, it had tried to hold the roles open as a potential redeployment opportunities for those now facing redundancy.