Rudd Hughes: Workers First Union spokesperson addresses claims New World workers banned from water at checkouts

A New World worker's taken to social media to complain about an incoming water bottle ban. 

A Reddit user made a post stating their store's banning staff from having their bottles at checkout, with management telling them they can drink during breaks. 

Rudd Hughes from the Workers First Union says this isn't the first time they've seen this, and might stem from customer service concerns. 

"But actually, if you've got hydrated people who are comfortable and happy, they're going to give much better customer service than people who are dying for a drink."

A Foodstuffs spokesperson says policies vary between stores, but they expect store teams to be reasonable. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now we've got a bit of controversy over water at work.

(00:02):
So what's happened as a New World worker has gone
on to Reddit to complain that their store is going
to ban employees from having water bottles on the shop floor.
This means, of course, they can only drink water on
their brakes. Rud Hues is with the Workers First Union
high Rod. Is this really happening?

Speaker 2 (00:20):
What apparently it is, And it's not the first time
we've kind of come across this sort of thing. We
have had issues and other stores another retail stores, and
where we've had those issues, we've managed to sit down
with the company and talk about access to water and
where they have access to water, you know, they don't
need the water bottles, but where they haven't got access

(00:41):
to water, and where they can put them out of
sight under counters. The companies have come back and said, okay,
well those people can have water bottles. It seems to
be a you know, kind of a basic human right
that people should be able to have access to water.

Speaker 1 (00:54):
What's the problem. Is it just the site of the bottle.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
It seems to be that that is the that is
the problem, and it may be that they think that
it's getting in the way of customer service. I think
that actually, if you've got hydrated people who are comfortable
and happy, they're going to give much better customer service
than people who are dying for a drink.

Speaker 1 (01:14):
How long can these these workers go without a break,
you know, between being able to get to their drink bottles.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
Well, there's requirements under the law for people to be
able to have a break every two hours or two
and a half hours, but there might be other reasons
that people need water bottles. It may be, and I
think that also one of the things that medical professions
is is that we need to hydrate more than we
actually do. And it's really basically it's a health and

(01:40):
safety issue as far as I concerned.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
Now New Water's franchises, Isn't it so this would vary
store to store, wouldn't it?

Speaker 2 (01:46):
It does? It does, and some you know, and some
employees are much better than others in terms of making
sure that their employees are comfortable and hydrated, whereas you know,
some are much more dictatory and not willing to kind
of provide that for workers.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
I find this really odd, rud because I would have
thought that if you're standing at a checkout. You've got
a whole bunch of places you can hide your bottle
underneath the counter, can't you.

Speaker 2 (02:12):
Budly, I couldn't agree more, and that is the argument
we've made when we've talked to other companies.

Speaker 1 (02:21):
Rud thanks very much, appreciate it. Rud Hugh's Deputy Secretary
of Retail at the Workers First Union got a statement
from food Stuff so they say there's no national food
Stuff's policy on this, but we expect our store teams
to be fair and reasonable to look after their teams.

Speaker 3 (02:34):
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